Etymograph

English

fulcrum

Fulcrum comes from Latin fulcrum ‘bedpost, foot of a couch’, from fulciō ‘prop up, support’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰelǵ- ‘to balk, beam’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰelǵ-‘to balk, beam’root as named
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfulciō‘prop up, support’
  3. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEfulcrum‘bedpost, foot of a couch’
  4. Englishearliest quotation 2006same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰelǵ-‘to balk, beam’root as named
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfulciō‘prop up, support’
  3. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEfulcrum‘bedpost, foot of a couch’
  4. Englishearliest quotation 2006same form

Earliest quotation: 2006, Rebecca Langlands, Sexual Morality in Ancient Rome: “By this point the fulcrum of concern is the…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *bʰelǵ- ‘to balk, beam’

block, bulk, balcony, plank, phalanx, balk, phalanges, 15 more

Today it means

noun The support about which a lever pivots.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *bʰelǵ- / fulcrum

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