pendeloque

English

WOTD – 8 January 2024

Etymology

An aquamarine cut into a pendeloque.

A pair of earrings with sapphire pendeloques.

Borrowed from French pendeloque (“hanging object; religious medallion, probably in pendant form; jewel hanging from an earring; small crystal piece, especially one hanging from a chandelier”) [and other forms], from Old French pendeloche (“penis”) (apparently a hapax legomenon), from pendeler (“to dangle”) + -oche (suffix forming nouns from verbs), with the ending possibly influenced by breloque (“charm for a bracelet”). Pendeler is derived from pendre (“to hang”) + -eler (frequentative suffix); and pendre from Latin pendere, the present active infinitive of pendeō (“to hang (down)”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)pend- (“to stretch”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌpɒndəˈlɒk/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌpɛndəˈloʊk/, /-ˈlɑk/
• Rhymes: -ɒk, -oʊk
• Hyphenation: pend‧el‧oque

Noun

pendeloque (plural pendeloques)

1. (also attributive) A drop-shaped diamond or other gem used as a pendant; also, a piece of jewellery in pendant form. [from 19th c.]
   • 1850, “an ex-hanger on of royalty” [pseudonym], “Souvenirs of Versailles, St. Cloud, Neuilly, and the Tuileries”, in Bentley’s Miscellany, volume XXVII, London: Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 176:

     [M]y eye was caught by the flashing of the emerald in my sister's ear, for she wore that day the suit of emeralds which had belonged to Jeanne de Consteil, who had married Raval de Pont de Vaux, which were of the brightest colour, and without flaw. A happy thought struck me; perhaps the urchin would exchange his draught for the pendeloque belonging to the ear-ring.

   • 1864, Thomas Carlyle, “M. de Voltaire has a Painful Jew-lawsuit”, in History of Friedrich II. of Prussia, Called Frederick the Great, volume IV, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, book XVI, page 353:

     "For payment of 3,000 thalers by me due, I have sold to M. de Voltaire, at the price costing by estimation and tax, with 2 per cent for my commission" […] "the following Diamonds, taxed […] as here adjoined; viz."—seven pieces of jewelry, pendeloques, &c., with price affixed, […]

   • 1882, A[rthur] H[erbert] Church, “Cutting and Fashioning Precious Stones”, in Precious Stones: Considered in Their Scientific and Artistic Relations. […], London: Chapman and Hall for the Committee of the Council on Education, published 1883, →OCLC, page 23:

     The other forms given to faceted stones are not of sufficient importance to need description; the star-cut and the pendeloque may just be named as patterns sometimes followed in the cutting of diamonds.

Translations

drop-shaped diamond or other gem used as a pendant; piece of jewellery in pendant form

• Finnish: pisara (fi)
• French: pendeloque (fr) f
• German: Pendeloque ?, Briolette ?
• Macedonian: при́врзок m (prívrzok)
• Russian: подве́ска (ru) f (podvéska)
• Spanish: pendeloque ?

Further reading

• pendeloque on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

French

Etymology

From Old French pendeloche (“penis”) (apparently a hapax legomenon), from pendeler (“to dangle”) + -oche (suffix forming nouns from verbs), with the ending possibly influenced by breloque (“charm for a bracelet”). Pendeler is derived from pendre (“to hang”) + -eler (frequentative suffix); and pendre from Latin pendere, the present active infinitive of pendeō (“to hang (down)”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)pend- (“to stretch”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɑ̃.dlɔk/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

pendeloque f (plural pendeloques)

1. pendant [from 17th c.]

Alternative forms

• pandeloque, pendilloque (obsolete)

Descendants

• → Catalan: pendeloc
• → English: pendeloque
• → Polish: bandelok

Further reading

• “pendeloque”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.