perpendiculum Latin · revision 34258

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=234–149 BC, Cato|origins=la perpendō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [pɛr.pɛnˈdɪ.kʊ.ɫũː]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [per.penˈdiː.ku.lum]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''perpendiculum''' ''n'' (genitive perpendiculī); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+ A masculine ''perpendiculus'' occurs in Frontinus' writings on land surveying.^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|perpendō|-culum|t1=to weigh carefully]], a noun of instrument.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(TLL) De Vaan lists it among the derivatives of [[m|la|pendō|t=to hang, weigh]], which goes back to [[itc-pro|*pend-e/o-|t=to hang]] and [[ine-pro|*(s)pend-e/o-|t=to spin]].^(de Vaan 2008) Isidore of Seville explains it as what always hangs down.^(TLL)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan records it first in Cato,^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010) who prescribes in ''De agri cultura'' that a small post should stand upright in the middle ''ad perpendiculum'', “vertically”.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It names the plumb line: Cicero speaks of testing columns by the plumb line, and of using plumb line and cord;^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Vitruvius, Pliny the Elder and Apuleius use it in building and in measuring heights.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) From the instrument it came to mean the vertical line or plane itself, as in Vitruvius.^(OLD 2012) The phrase ''ad perpendiculum'', “vertically”, is the commonest use, as in Cicero's ''De fato'' of bodies falling by their weight and in Caesar of timbers not set vertically but slanting.^(OLD 2012) Ausonius uses it figuratively of someone who kept himself and his family strictly in line.^(Georges 1913) Medieval writers in Britain use it for the plumb line, a mason's rule, the perpendicular, and a pothook.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 234–149 BC – Cato uses ''ad perpendiculum'' for “vertically”.^(OLD 2012)^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of the plumb line.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius uses it of the vertical line or plane.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 310–394 AD – Ausonius uses it figuratively of strict order.^(Georges 1913)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * Medieval Latin – It also names a mason's rule and a pothook.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|plumb line]], [[m|en|plummet]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # A vertical line or plane, a [[m|en|perpendicular]].^(OLD 2012)

+ # ''ad perpendiculum'': vertically, perpendicularly.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' A mason's rule, carpenter's [[m|en|square]].^(DMLBS)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' A [[m|en|pothook]].^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[pendeō]]

+ * [[pondus]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}