pons asinorum

The story

1. Latin · derived frompōns“bridge”
2. New Latin · derived frompons asinorum
3. English todaypons asinorum

From New Latin pons asinorum, from Latin pōns (“bridge”) + genitive plural of asinus (“donkey”). Literally, “bridge of donkeys”.

Words from the same roots

First known use, by meaning

• from 17th c. A method for finding the middle term of a syllogism in Aristotlean analytics.
• from 17th c. An obstacle which will defeat a beginner or foolish person.
• from 18th c. A proposition in Euclid stating that the angles at the base of an isoceles triangle are equal.