trapezium

Forms

trapezium n (genitive trapeziī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek τραπέζιον (trapézion, “irregular quadrilateral, little table”),^[1][2][3] a diminutive of τράπεζα (trápeza, “table”).^[1][4][5] Etymonline explains the geometrical sense from the literal “little table”.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in a fragment on geometry, which Georges ascribes to Frontinus and Conte to Pseudo-Censorinus, as the name of a four-sided figure with unequal sides.^[3][6]

Semantic evolution

Besides the geometrical figure, the Roman land surveyors (the Gromatici) used the word for a boundary stone of that shape.^[3][7][6] The geometry ascribed to Boethius has it as well, with a variant feminine trapezia.^[3][7] Other variant forms recorded by Georges are trapizeum and trapizeus.^[3]

Italian trapezio continues the Late Latin word.^[6] English took it over in geometry in the 1560s, and the gymnast's trapeze comes from it through French, probably because the bar, the ropes and the ceiling form a trapezium.^[5]

Timeline

• 1560s – English borrows the word as a term of geometry.^[5]
• 1861 – English trapeze, from French, is first recorded for the gymnast's swing.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. (geometry) A quadrilateral with unequal sides, a trapezium.^[3][7][6]
2. (surveying) A boundary stone of that shape.^[3][7][6]

Related words

• English trapezium
• English trapeze

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
3. ^ a b c d e f g Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.