A pendant (from Old French) word "pendre" and the Latin word "pendere" which means "to hang down" is a loose-hanging piece of jewellery, generally attached by a small loop to a necklace, when the ensemble may be known as a "pendant necklace". A pendant earring is an earring with a piece hanging down. In modern French "pendant" is the gerund form of “hanging” (also meaning “during”).
One of the earliest types of bodily adornment is the pendant. Primeval man liked to put a tiny hole in a beautiful rock and slip a string usually made of grass or vine so it could be hung around the neck. Shells and other indigenous materials could also be used. In Ancient Egypt, Pharaohs normally wore scarab beetle pendants to symbolize their wealth and power. Royalty and nobility in Egypt also wear a certain type of pendant called a cartouche.
Pendants can have several functions, which may be combined:
- Ornamentation
- Identification (i.e., religious symbols, sexual symbols, symbols of rock bands)
- Protection (i.e., amulets, religious symbols)
- Self-affirmation (i.e., initials, names)
- Ostentation (i.e., jewels).
- Award (i.e., Scouting Ireland Chief Scout's Award, Order of CúChulainn)
The many specialized types of pendants include lockets which open, often to reveal an image, and pendilia, which hang from larger objects of metalwork.
Read more about Pendant: Other Meanings
Other articles related to "pendant, pendants":
... Berserker Pendants were talismans created by Berserkers which gave the bearer the ability to order people to do as they wished ... A Pendant would also slowly changed the person using it into a Berserker ... Each time it was used, the Pendant would slightly change the bearer both physically and mentally until the bearer desired to complete the transformation into a Berserker ...
... Broad pendant Date Name 29.08.1924 — 27.08.1935 Broad pendant of commander of ship detachments Broad pendant of commander of ship divisions 211 27.05.1935 — 16.11.1950 Broad pendant of division commander ...
... A teach pendant is a portable control device used in industrial robotics ... A cable pendant is one of a series of cables that is horizontally suspended across a flight deck of aircraft carriers for aircraft to land by catching with tailhook ... A nautical pendant is a length of cable or rope, usually of a short length, that has eyes or fittings, or both, at the ends for attachment to vessels and bollards or buoys ...
... Pendant Productions, (also known as Pendant Audio and just Pendant) is an independent online production group specializing in the production of audio serials ... Pendant is considered part of the growing online community specializing in the revival of audio drama and the subgenre of audio theater ... Nearly 1 million mp3s were downloaded from pendantaudio.com in 2007, and in 2008, Pendant topped 1.1 million mp3s downloaded ...
... Flag Date Use Description ?—Present The Pendant of Commander of Flotilla ?—Present The Pendant of Commander of Squadron ?—Present The Pendant of Commander of Division ...
Famous quotes containing the word pendant:
“The young men float on their backs, their white bellies bulge to
the sun, they do not ask who seizes fast to them,
They do not know who puffs and declines with pendant and bending arch,
They do not think whom they souse with spray.”
—Walt Whitman (18191892)
“The pleasure of leaving home, care-free, with no concern but to enjoy, has also as a pendant the pleasure of coming back to the old hearthstone, the home to which, however traveled, the heart still fondly turns, ignoring the burden of its anxieties and cares.”
—Herman Melville (18191891)
“Phlébas, le Phénicien, pendant quinze jours noyé,
Oubliait les cris des mouettes et la houle de Cornouaille.”
—T.S. (Thomas Stearns)