perpendo

Forms

perpendō (present infinitive perpendere, perfect active perpendī, supine perpēnsum); third conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin per- + pendō (“to weigh”).^[2][1][3] De Vaan traces pendō to Proto-Italic *pend-e/o- (“to hang, weigh”) and Proto-Indo-European *(s)pend- (“to spin”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lucretius uses it of weighing something with keen judgement.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Literally it is to weigh carefully in the scales, which Lewis & Short call very rare, as in Gellius, and to poise or balance, as the surveying instrument in Frontinus.^[2][5] Most often it is figurative, to weigh carefully, examine, ponder: Cicero weighs the claims of duty most carefully and tests a man's conduct against the rules of a philosophy.^[2][5] Church Latin glosses it to examine, weigh, consider, investigate.^[6]

Timeline

• 96–55 BC – Lucretius of weighing with judgement.^[5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of weighing duties.^[2][5]
• c. 165 AD – Gellius of weighing in the scales.^[2][7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To weigh carefully (in the scales); to balance.^[2][5][1]
2. To weigh, examine, ponder, consider.^[2][5][1][6]

Related words

• pendō
• expendō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ 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 g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de