pender

Forms

pender (first-person singular present pendo, first-person singular preterite pendi, past participle pendido)^[1] Houaiss records the 14th-century forms peda and peederás.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin pendeō (“to hang, be suspended”), written Old Galician-Portuguese pender in the oldest texts.^[2][3][1] Houaiss and Cunha date it to the 13th and the 14th century respectively.^[2][3] Wiktionary treats it as a popular inherited word, while Nascentes takes it to have come by a learned route.^[1][4] For the Spanish word Corominas notes a similar history: Old Castilian had the popular diphthongised Old Spanish piende, but from the 15th century Spanish pender had a strongly learned flavour.^[5]

The same Latin verb is Galician pender, Italian pendere, French pendre and Occitan pendre.^[6][1]

The Latin verb is from Proto-Italic *pendēō, a stative verb from Proto-Indo-European *(s)pend- (“to stretch, pull, draw”), and is related to pendō (“to weigh”) and pondus (“weight”).^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

In a cantiga d'escarnho by Afonso Lopez de Baian a maça de fuste, que lhi pende do arçon “a wooden mace that hangs from his saddle-bow” is mocked, and the Cantigas de Santa Maria have viu a seu lado pender de cima do onbro dous fios “he saw two threads hang down at his side from his shoulder”.^[8][9] The first sense is the physical one, “to hang”.^[8]

Semantic evolution

From “to hang” the verb took the senses “to lean, droop” and “to depend on”;^[2] Houaiss dates “to be subject to, depend on” to the 14th century.^[2] Barbosa in 1611 equates pender with depender and estar dependurado, and Bluteau gives both “to hang” and “to depend”, with the proverb cada carneiro por seu pé pende.^[10][11] Morais in 1789 adds the legal pende o pleito “the case is still undecided” and pender da boca de alguém “to hang on someone's words”.^[12] The figurative “to have a leaning or bent for” is now common in both Brazil and Portugal.^[2][13][14]

Timeline

• 13th century – the Cantigas de Santa Maria and a cantiga d'escarnho use pender “to hang”.^[8]
• 14th century – first date Cunha gives, and Houaiss's date for “to depend on”.^[3][2]
• 1569 – Cardoso's dictionary renders pender by Latin pendeo.^[15]
• 1611 – Barbosa glosses it as depender and estar dependurado.^[10]
• 1789 – Morais lists the senses “to hang”, “to depend”, “to be undecided” (of a lawsuit) and “to lean”.^[12]

Meanings

Verb

1. To hang or be suspended (from): Um candeeiro antigo pendia da trave.^[2][16][17]
2. To be or put in a sloping position; to lean, droop: Com o peso da neve os ramos pendiam.^[2][13][17]
3. (figurative) To have a tendency, bent or preference (for): Desde pequeno pendia para o desenho.^[2][14][17]
4. To hang up, fix at some height above the ground.^[2]
5. To be about to fall or come down from above.^[2][16]
6. To be fixed or intent on something: Os ouvintes pendiam das palavras do orador.^[2][14]
7. To be subject to; to depend on (depender).^[2][16][17]
8. To be imminent; to be undecided, pending.^[16][17][14]
9. To make wilt and droop.^[2][17]
10. (reflexive) To lean or rest against something.^[2][16]

Related words

• pendor
• pendente
• pendurar
• depender
• suspender
• Latin pendeō
• Spanish pender

Usage notes

Pender de um fio “to hang by a thread” means to be close to the end.^[16]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. pender
3. ^ a b c Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. pender
4. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. pender
5. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 476
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 6383
7. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. pendeo
8. ^ a b c Instituto da Lingua Galega, Dicionario de dicionarios do galego medieval (DDGM), ed. Ernesto González Seoane, Santiago de Compostela: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, https://ilg.usc.gal/ddgm, p. s.v. pender
9. ^ Universo Cantigas: Glosario da poesía medieval profana galego-portuguesa, A Coruña: Instituto da Lingua e Literatura (ILLA), Universidade da Coruña, https://www.universocantigas.gal, p. s.v. pender
10. ^ a b Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. pender
11. ^ Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. pender
12. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1789), Diccionario da lingua portugueza composto pelo padre D. Rafael Bluteau, reformado, e accrescentado, 2 vols., Lisboa: Simão Thaddeo Ferreira, p. 2, 181
13. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. pender
14. ^ a b c d Academia das Ciências de Lisboa, Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, revised online edition (2023–) of the Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa Contemporânea (2001), https://dicionario.acad-ciencias.pt, p. s.v. pender
15. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. pender
16. ^ a b c d e f Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. pender
17. ^ a b c d e f Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 7040