pondo

Forms

pondō (not comparable)^[1]

Etymology

It is an ablative of ⟨*pondus, -ī⟩, an ⟨o⟩-stem beside pondus “weight”, from pendō “to weigh”.^[2][1][3] De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic ⟨*pondo-⟩ “weight” beside ⟨*pend-e/o-⟩ “to hang, weigh”.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's earliest source is the Twelve Tables.^[5] Köbler dates the Twelve Tables c. 450 BC.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It meant in weight, by weight, as in Plautus' nēque piscium ūllam unciam pondō “not an ounce in weight of fish” and Livy's corōnam auream lībram pondō “a golden crown a pound in weight”; since it so often stood with lībra, it came to mean a pound by itself, as an indeclinable noun.^[2][6][3][7]

Timeline

• c. 450 BC – The Twelve Tables use it.^[5]
• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.^[6][5]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of a golden crown.^[3][5]

Meanings

Adverb

1. In weight, by weight.^[2][6]
2. (indeclinable noun) A pound.^[7][3]

Word family

• dupondius

Related words

• pondus
• pendō
• lībra
• English pound

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften