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Origin and history of trapeze

trapeze(n.)

gymnastics device, a high swing with a cross-bar suspended by two cords, used for feats of strength and agility, 1861, from French trapèze, from Late Latin trapezium (see trapezium), probably because the crossbar, the ropes and the ceiling formed a trapezium.

The French, to whose powers of invention (so long as you do not insist upon utility) there is no limit, have invented for the world the Trapeze .... [Chambers's Journal, July 6, 1861]

Trapeze-artist, for one who performs on one, is by 1938; trapezist is from 1875.

also from 1861

Entries linking to trapeze

trapezium(n.)

in geometry, "plane figure contained by four straight lines and not a parallelogram," 1560s, from Late Latin trapezium (plural trapezia), from Greek trapezion "irregular quadrilateral," literally "a little table," diminutive of trapeza "table, dining table," from tra- "four" (from PIE root *kwetwer- "four") + peza "foot, edge," related to pous (from PIE root *ped- "foot").

The classical Greek table is said to have had one side shorter than the opposite, hence the word was extended in Euclid to a 4-sided figure with unequal sides. Before 1540s, Latin editions of Euclid used the Arabic-derived word helmuariphe, helmuaripha.

Compare trapezoid, with which it has confused and exchanged senses at various times in distinguishing figures in which two opposite sides are parallel and two are not, from those in which none are.

As the name of a bone in the wrist, it is recorded from 1840. Related: Trapezian, in reference to crystal faces. Greek kynes trapezēes was "table-dogs," hence "parasites."

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    swing
    Middle English swingen "cause to move, throw, cast, fling; move, dash, rush;" also "deliver a blow, smite with a weapon," from Old English swingan "to beat, strike; scourge, flog; to rush, fling oneself" (strong verb, past tense swang, past participle swungen). This is from Proto
    whiskey
    1715, from Gaelic uisge beatha "whisky," literally "water of life," from Old Irish uisce "water" (from PIE *ud-skio-, suffixed form of root *wed- (1) "water; wet") + bethu "life" (from PIE *gwi-wo-tut-, suffixed form of *gwi-wo-, from root *gwei- "to live"). According to Barnhart
    ghetto
    1610s, "part of a city in which Jews are compelled to live," especially in Italy, from Italian ghetto "part of a city to which Jews are restricted," of unknown origin. The various theories trace it to: Yiddish get "deed of separation;" a special use of Venetian getto "foundry" (t
    comprise
    early 15c., "to include," from Old French compris, past participle of comprendre "to contain, comprise" (12c.), from Latin comprehendere "to take together, to unite; include; seize; to comprehend, perceive" (to seize or take in the mind), from com "with, together," here probably
    conceit
    late 14c., "a thought, a notion, that which is mentally conceived," from conceiven (see conceive) based on analogy of deceit/deceive and receipt/receive. The sense evolved from "something formed in the mind" to "fanciful or witty notion, ingenious thought" (1510s), to "vanity, ex
    Whig
    British political party, 1657, in part perhaps a disparaging use of whigg "a country bumpkin" (1640s); but mainly a shortened form of Whiggamore (1649) "one of the adherents of the Presbyterian cause in western Scotland who marched on Edinburgh in 1648 to oppose Charles I." Perha
    conservative
    late 14c., conservatyf, "tending to preserve or protect, preservative, having the power to keep whole or safe," from Old French conservatif, from Medieval Latin conservativus, from Latin conservatus, past participle of conservare "to keep, preserve, keep intact, guard," from assi
    constipation
    c. 1400, "costiveness, bowel condition in which evacuations are obstructed or difficult" (more fully, constipacioun of þe wombe), from Late Latin constipationem (nominative constipatio), noun of state from past-participle stem of Latin constipare "to press or crowd together," fro
    chaos
    late 14c., "gaping void; empty, immeasurable space," from Old French chaos (14c.) or directly from Latin chaos, from Greek khaos "abyss, that which gapes wide open, that which is vast and empty" (from *khnwos, from PIE root *ghieh- "to yawn, gape, be wide open"). The meaning "utt
    fit
    1680s, "process of fitting," from fit (v.). From 1823 as "the fitting of one thing to another;" 1831 as "the way something fits."..."paroxysm, sudden attack" (as of anger), 1540s, probably via Middle English fit (n.) "painful, exciting experience" (early 14c.), from Old English f

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