LATIN DICTIONARYLexicon Latīnum
adverb

pondō

pondō (not comparable)

Meaning

  1. not comparableby weight, in weight
    […], ut beneficii magis quam ignominiae hic exercitus memor et coronam auream dictatori, libram pondo, decreverit […][…] , that this army, choosing to be mindful of its new gains rather than of the disgrace he had caused his soldiers, accorded the dictator a golden crown, a full pound in weight […]27-7 BCE, Livy, Ab urbe Condita, book III. xxix:
  2. not comparablein pounds, pounds (as the most common unit of weight)
    aurī quattuor pondō expendereto pay four pounds of gold

Choosing the right word Döderlein's Latin Synonyms

Libra · Pondo

Libra pondo is the full expression, literally a balance in weight, that is, a scale, filled so as to balance a pound; libra (λεῖος) is a less definite expression, inasmuch as leaving out the pondo, makes it doubtful whether the balance itself be not understood; pondo is an elliptical expression, in which the principal notion, weight, is expressed, and the accessory notion left out; the scale that is filled must balance the definite weight. In a similar manner operæ pretium est, is distinguished from operæ est, and from pretium est. (vi. 195.)

pondo, adv. abl. from pondus,
I. by weight, in weight.
A. In gen.: neque piscium ullam unciam hodie pondo cepi, an ounce weight, Plaut. Rud. 4, 2, 8: ut exercitus coronam auream dictatori libram pondo decreverit, a pound in weight, weighing a pound, Liv. 3, 29; 4, 20: vettonicae tusae pondo libra, Plin. 26, 7, 19, § 33: pretium in pondo libras denarii duo, id. 33, 12, 56, § 158: styracis, resinae terebinthinae pondo sextantes, Cels. 5, 25, 16: sextarium aquae cum dodrante pondo mellis diluunt, Col. 12, 12: argenti in convivio plus pondo quam libras centum inferre, Gell. 2, 24, 2.—
B. In partic., with numerals, as the usual measure of weight, as subst. indecl., pounds (sc. libra; freq. and class.): COMPEDIBVS QVINDECIM PONDO ... VINCITO, Fragm. XII. Tabularum: quot pondo te censes esse nudum? Plaut. As. 2, 2, 33: auri quinque pondo abstulit, Cic. Clu. 64, 179: argenti pondo viginti millia, Caes. B. C. 2, 18; Plin. 33, 3, 15, § 51; 11, 42, 97, § 241: fulmen aureum quinquaginta pondo auri, Liv. 22, 1, 17.—Gen.: rettuli auri pondo mille octingentūm septuaginta, Varr. ap. Non. 149, 19: corona aurea pondo ducentūm, id. ib. 163, 33.

Origins

Adverbial ablative, likely from an o-stem variant of pondus, ponderis.

In English words that came into English from pondō

  • poundpondō

Quick answers

What does pondō mean in Latin?
pondō, a adverb, means “by weight, in weight; in pounds, pounds (as the most common unit of weight)”.