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pendulus

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word pendulus

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
116–27 BC, Varro
Ultimate origin
Latin pendeō
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin pendeo
Latin pendulus
From the same root
Latin impendeo ← pendeo

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈpɛn.dʊ.ɫʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈpɛn.du.lus][1]

Forms

pendulus (feminine pendula, neuter pendulum); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin pendeō (“to hang, be suspended”) + -ulus.[2][1] The grammarians Priscian and Eutyches connect it with pendō (“to hang up, weigh”), but the TLL judges from its meanings that it is better derived from the stative verb, and compares the formation of patulus.[3] De Vaan lists it among the derivatives of that verb, whose root he gives as Proto-Italic *pend-e/o-, usually regarded as a variant of the root for “spin”.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and the TLL date it from Varro,[4][3][5] who in his work on agriculture uses it of an animal's lower lip hanging down.[2]

Semantic evolution

It meant hanging down or drooping, and hanging or suspended: Horace has a neck hanging from a girdle, Ovid a balance, the dewlaps of bulls and the threads of a loom, and Pliny the Elder the hanging cheeks of drunkards.[2][6][7] Of places it meant overhanging or sloping, in Columella and Martial,[6][8] and of persons and creatures swinging or floating: Columella's pruner hangs from the trees, Statius has a traveller perched precariously, and Apuleius has birds hovering in the air.[2][7][6] Figuratively it meant wavering or uncertain, as in Horace's wish not to hang in hope of the uncertain hour, and fickle, in a letter attributed to Hadrian.[2][6][8] Apuleius, who uses it most, also has the sense “dependent on”.[2][3]

Venantius Fortunatus also uses it often.[3] In British medieval Latin it described hanging cloths and a purse worn at the side, and with sera a padlock.[9] English formed pendulous from it around 1600, and its neuter, Modern Latin pendulum (1643), gave English pendulum.[10]

Timeline

  • 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of a hanging lip.[2][5]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace uses it of a hanging neck and of wavering hope.[2][5]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of a balance and of a loom.[6][5]
  • c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius uses it of things floating in the air and of dependence.[2][5]
  • 536–c. 610 AD – Venantius Fortunatus uses it frequently.[3][5]
  • c. 1600 – English forms pendulous from it.[10]
  • 1643 – Modern Latin pendulum, its neuter, appears.[10]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Hanging down, drooping, pendulous.[2][6]
  2. Hanging, suspended.[2][11]
  3. Of places, overhanging, sloping; of persons, perched in a precarious position.[2][8]
  4. Supported or floating in the air.[2][7]
  5. (figurative) Wavering, uncertain, in suspense; fickle.[2][6][8]
  6. Dependent (on), deriving (from).[2]

Word family

  • antependulus
  • prōpendulus
  • altipendulus
  • retrōpendulus

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  5. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  8. ^ a b c d Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  9. ^ Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
  10. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  11. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
Cite this entry

“Pendulus.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/pendulus. Accessed 22 Oct. 2026.

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