fals

Forms

fals (feminine falsa, masculine plural falsos, feminine plural falses)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin falsus (“false, untrue”), properly the past participle of fallō (“to deceive”).^{[2][3][4][5][1]}

The same Latin word is Occitan fals, French faux and Italian falso.^[6] Meyer-Lübke took Spanish falso and Portuguese falso from the Occitan and Catalan form,^[6] while Corominas explains the kept /l/ of the Spanish word by the speech of the educated, above all the clergy, who used it in moral judgements.^[7]

De Vaan derives the Latin verb from *sgʷʰh₂(e)l-n- (“to stumble”), the root of Ancient Greek σφάλλω (sphállō, “to bring down”).^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Homilies d'Organyà have the word in a list of sins, per ladronici o per tolta o per fals jutgament “through theft or seizure or false judgement”, and speak of los falses judeus “the false Jews”.^[2] The sense is “untrue, deceitful”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Llull writes of a falsa temptació of the devil and of Muhammad as lur fals proffeta “their false prophet”;^[2] Jaume I already applies the word to counterfeit coins, morabatins falses de coyre.^[2] In Jaume I's chronicle a people is molt falsa, untrustworthy.^[9] Eiximenis uses it for “weak”: hom fals és mur fals, a false man is a wall that falls at the first attack.^[9] As a noun it meant a falsehood, and the Valencian Furs speak of the crim de fals, the crime of forgery.^[9]

Some uses are material: the porta falsa is a small back door, a figure for the anus in Pou's dictionary;^[2] la falsa is the attic in Puigcerdà, Mequinensa and the Maestrat, as in Upper Aragon and Murcia; and Mallorca has place names such as Es Corral Fals.^[2] The derivatives are old: falsari “forger” from 1272 in the Costums de Tortosa, falsament and falsia in the 14th century, falsedat in 1490 in the Tirant.^[4][2]

Labèrnia's dictionary of 1839 records the phrase en fals “without proper security, falsely”, and Tarongí's of 1878 the comparison més fals que Judes.^[10][11] Modern dictionaries add senses in diplomatics and numismatics: a forged document, a counterfeit coin.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 1200 – fals jutgament in the Homilies d'Organyà.^[2][5]
• 1244 – Jaume I's chronicle calls a people molt falsa.^[9]
• 1272 – first record of falsari, in the Costums de Tortosa.^[4]
• 1381 – Eiximenis: hom fals és mur fals.^[9]
• 1460 – Roig's Spill has ffalsos reals, counterfeit coins.^[9]
• 1490 – falsedat in the Tirant lo Blanc.^[4]
• 1839 – Labèrnia records en fals.^[10]

Meanings

Adjective

1. false, untrue; not in keeping with the truth through error or deceit: una notícia falsa.^[5][3][12]
2. Of a person, lying, deceitful: No te'n fiïs, que és molt fals.^[5][3]
3. Not real, having only the appearance of something; fake, simulated: una porta falsa.^[5][3]
4. Of money, a document or a work of art, counterfeit, made to pass for the genuine one: un bitllet fals.^[5][12]
5. Not exact; out of the right direction or position.^[3]
6. Unsafe, lacking solidity or stability.^[3]

Noun

1. (diplomatics) A forgery, a forged document.^[5]

Word family

• falsament
• falsari
• falsedat
• falsejar
• falset
• falsia
• falsificar

Related words

• fallir
• falta
• fal·laç
• Latin falsus
• Occitan fals
• Spanish falso

Usage notes

The DCVB has a second fals, a form of alfals “alfalfa” that lost the Arabic article al-.^[13] Labèrnia and Martí Gadea also write fals for the sickle, now spelt falç.^[10][14]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Coromines, Joan (1980–2001), Diccionari etimològic i complementari de la llengua catalana, 10 vols., Barcelona: Curial / La Caixa (online ed., Institut d'Estudis Catalans 2024), p. 3, 870
3. ^ a b c d e f Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. fals
4. ^ a b c d Bruguera, Jordi (1996), Diccionari etimològic, Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana, p. 377
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Enciclopèdia Catalana, Gran diccionari de la llengua catalana (GDLC), Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana; online edition, https://www.diccionari.cat, p. s.v. fals
6. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 3171
7. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 841
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ a b c d e f Faraudo de Saint-Germain, Lluís, Vocabulari de la llengua catalana medieval, online edition, Barcelona: Institut d'Estudis Catalans, p. s.v. fals
10. ^ a b c Labèrnia, Pere (1839–1840), Diccionari de la llengua catalana ab la correspondencia castellana y llatina, 2 vols., Barcelona, p. s.v. fals
11. ^ [Tarongí Cortès, Josep] (1878), Diccionari mallorquí-castellà, Palma de Mallorca, p. s.v. fals
12. ^ a b Institut d'Estudis Catalans, Diccionari essencial de la llengua catalana (DEIEC), online, https://deiec.iec.cat, p. s.v. fals
13. ^ Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. fals 2
14. ^ Martí Gadea, Joaquim (1891), Novísimo diccionario general valenciano-castellano, Valencia, p. s.v. fals