2816: Penthouse Sep 5, 2024

If you have a penthouse now, you likely have a very fancy or expensive home, but that was far from the case historically. The Middle English ‘pentis’, deriving its name from the Old French ‘apentiz’, referred to a shed or a lean-to, i.e. a semi-connected building sharing a wall but with its own roof. This is ultimately from the Latin ‘appendicium’ (appendage) perhaps influenced from apens (fastening) reflecting the way these structures were often attached to larger buildings. A penthouse of old was not a particularly comfortable place, and was not intended for inhabiting. 

Over time, the word evolved in both form and meaning. The modern spelling ‘penthouse’ was influenced by folk etymology, mistakenly associating the word with ‘house’. By the early 20th century, ‘penthouse’ had shifted to refer to units at the top of a set of apartments with a rooftop terrace, and then to the (now luxurious) apartments located there.