pendulus Latin · revision 35945

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=116–27 BC, Varro|origins=la pendeō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈpɛn.dʊ.ɫʊs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈpɛn.du.lus]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''pendulus''' (feminine pendula, neuter pendulum); first/second-declension adjective^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|pendeō|-ulus|t1=to hang, be suspended]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) The grammarians Priscian and Eutyches connect it with [[m|la|pendō|t=to hang up, weigh]], but the TLL judges from its meanings that it is better derived from the stative verb, and compares the formation of [[m|la|patulus]].^(TLL) De Vaan lists it among the derivatives of that verb, whose root he gives as [[itc-pro|*pend-e/o-]], usually regarded as a variant of the root for “spin”.^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan and the TLL date it from Varro,^(de Vaan 2008)^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010) who in his work on agriculture uses it of an animal's lower lip hanging down.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It meant hanging down or drooping, and hanging or suspended: Horace has a neck hanging from a girdle, Ovid a balance, the dewlaps of bulls and the threads of a loom, and Pliny the Elder the hanging cheeks of drunkards.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913) Of places it meant overhanging or sloping, in Columella and Martial,^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Gaffiot 2016) and of persons and creatures swinging or floating: Columella's pruner hangs from the trees, Statius has a traveller perched precariously, and Apuleius has birds hovering in the air.^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Figuratively it meant wavering or uncertain, as in Horace's wish not to hang in hope of the uncertain hour, and fickle, in a letter attributed to Hadrian.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Gaffiot 2016) Apuleius, who uses it most, also has the sense “dependent on”.^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)

+

+ Venantius Fortunatus also uses it often.^(TLL) In British medieval Latin it described hanging cloths and a purse worn at the side, and with ''sera'' a padlock.^(DMLBS) English formed ''pendulous'' from it around 1600, and its neuter, Modern Latin ''pendulum'' (1643), gave English ''pendulum''.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of a hanging lip.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 65–8 BC – Horace uses it of a hanging neck and of wavering hope.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of a balance and of a loom.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius uses it of things floating in the air and of dependence.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 536–c. 610 AD – Venantius Fortunatus uses it frequently.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 1600 – English forms ''pendulous'' from it.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1643 – Modern Latin ''pendulum'', its neuter, appears.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Hanging down, [[m|en|droop|alt=drooping]], [[m|en|pendulous]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # Hanging, [[m|en|suspend|alt=suspended]].^(OLD 2012)^(Stelten 1995)

+ # Of places, overhanging, sloping; of persons, perched in a precarious position.^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016)

+ # Supported or floating in the air.^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913)

+ # ''(figurative)'' Wavering, uncertain, in suspense; [[m|en|fickle]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Gaffiot 2016)

+ # Dependent (on), deriving (from).^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[antependulus]]

+ * [[prōpendulus]]

+ * [[altipendulus]]

+ * [[retrōpendulus]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[pendeō]]

+ * [[pendō]]

+ * [[en|pendulous]]

+ * [[en|pendulum]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}