pendulum

Forms

pendulum n (genitive pendulī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin pendulus (“hanging down”), its neuter used as a noun,^[1][2] from pendeō (“to hang”).^[1][2] For the Modern Latin word of physics, Etymonline suggests it may be a Latinization of Italian pendolo.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Du Cange quotes it from a charter of 1165, granting a mill with its pendulum to the house of the sick at Saint-Quentin; he takes it to be a part of a mill.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In medieval texts it named things that hang: a part of a mill,^[3] and in a French letter of remission of 1355 the hanger of a belt from which a knife was carried.^[3] Köbler glosses it as a swinging weight and records it in glosses with Old High German hangilla.^[1] The Modern Latin pendulum of mechanics is recorded from 1643 and gave English pendulum in 1660.^[2]

Timeline

• 1165 – A charter of Saint-Quentin names a mill “with its pendulum”.^[3]
• 1355 – A letter of remission uses it for the hanger of a knife on a belt.^[3]
• 1643 – Modern Latin pendulum appears as the swinging weight of mechanics.^[2]
• 1660 – English pendulum is first recorded.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Medieval Latin) A part of a mill.^[3]
2. (Medieval Latin) The hanger of a belt from which a knife or sword hangs.^[3]
3. (New Latin) A pendulum, a swinging weight.^[1][2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
2. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre