Etymograph

English

compendium

Compendium comes from Latin compendium ‘that which is weighed together’, from Proto-Italic *pendō ‘to hang, put in a hanging position’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)pend- ‘to stretch’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)pend-1‘to stretch’root named by Wiktionary
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)pénd-e-ti2reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*pendō2‘to hang, put in a hanging position’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpendō1‘to weigh’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcompendium1‘that which is weighed together’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 2008compendium1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English compendium
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Latin pendo
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2008, Caroline Murphy, Murder of a Medici Princess: “It was this last variety which formed the backbone…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)pend-Wiktionary, English compendium‘to stretch’root named by Wiktionary
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)pénd-e-tiWiktionary, Latin pendoreconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*pendōWiktionary, Latin pendo‘to hang, put in a hanging position’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpendōWiktionary, English compendium‘to weigh’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcompendiumWiktionary, English compendium‘that which is weighed together’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 2008compendiumWiktionary, English compendium. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2008, Caroline Murphy, Murder of a Medici Princess: “It was this last variety which formed the backbone…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *(s)pend- ‘to stretch’

pound, span, depend, poise, pendant, pansy, pensive, 15 more

through Proto-Italic *pendō ‘to hang, put in a hanging position’

spending, suspension, suspend, spender, 11 more

through Latin pendō ‘to weigh’

spend, expensive, expense, pension, compensation, expenditure, compensate, penthouse, appendix, perpendicular, peso, dispensation, expend, piso, append, recompense, 14 more

Today it means

noun A short, complete summary; an abstract.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “compendium”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin pendo. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *(s)pend- / compendium

Shirt and support for this word