pau

pau¹ peace

Etymology tree of pau¹

inherited borrowed derived

Latin pāx

Catalan pau

French paix

Italian pace

Romanian pace

Spanish paz

English pax

From the same root · pau¹

Latin pācificō ← pāx

Latin pācificus ← pāx

Latin pācō ← pāx

Pronunciation

• Balearic, Central, Northern, Northwestern, Valencia: [ˈpaw]^[1]

Forms

pau f (plural paus)^[1] The Homilies d'Organyà still write pad.^[2]

Etymology

The word for peace is inherited from Old Catalan pau, which is inherited from Latin pax (“peace”).^{[2][3][4][5][1]}

The same Latin word is Occitan patz, French paix, Spanish paz, Italian pace and Romanian pace.^[6][1]

The Latin word continues Proto-Italic *pāks, from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂ḱ- (“to fasten, join”); pacīscor (“to make an agreement”) and pactum are of the same family.^[7][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Homilies d'Organyà, which translate the pacem of Saint Peter's epistle: the man who does no harm seeks peace, enquer pad, and follows it.^[2][5] The spelling pau appears in a letter of about 1251 to the bishop of Urgell, which asks that the canons be kept in peace.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The medieval language already had the main senses: the absence of war, the peace treaty between princes (Muntaner on the peace of 1295), the peace of the soul and concord among people.^[2][8] In accounts pau meant that a debt had been settled, and Canals uses it for a territory, la pau romana.^[8]

Its derivative paer, the "keeper of the peace", was the title of the town magistrates of Lleida and other towns; the Costums de Tortosa of 1272 name them, and their seat, the paeria, is recorded in 1340.^[2][4] Labèrnia in 1839 adds the liturgical kiss of peace and the pau given to the faithful to kiss.^[9]

Timeline

• late 12th century – pad in the Homilies d'Organyà.^[2][5]
• first half of the 13th century – pau in the Usatges de Barcelona.^[10]
• c. 1251 – tingatz ... en pau in a letter to the bishop of Urgell.^[2]
• 1272 – paers in the Costums de Tortosa.^[4]
• 1295 – Muntaner describes the treaty of peace with the Pope and the king of France.^[2]
• 1388 – the ordinances of a confraternity of Vilafranca call the devil the enemy of peace.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. peace, a state of quiet not disturbed by troubles: Deixa'm en pau!^[11][5][1]
2. Peace of mind, freedom from anxiety or passion.^[11][5]
3. Public order; concord in a family or a group.^[11][5]
4. The state of a nation not at war; the ending of hostilities, a peace treaty.^[11][5]
5. fer les paus: to make it up after a quarrel.^[11][12]
6. (liturgy) The kiss of peace; the pax, a tablet given to the faithful to kiss.^[3][9]

Word family

• apaivagar
• paer
• paeria

pau² simpleton; spotted dragonet

Pronunciation

• Balearic, Central, Northern, Northwestern, Valencia: [ˈpaw]^[1]

Forms

pau (feminine paula, masculine plural paus, feminine plural paules)^[13] Bruguera explains the feminine paula as formed after the feminine of the man's name.^[14]

Etymology

The word for a simpleton is of disputed origin.^[2][14] The DCVB derives it from Catalan Pau (“Paul”), the man's name, which is from Latin Paulus, and lists the sense "dull of understanding" under the name.^[3] Bruguera and the GDLC say that its origin is uncertain: it has been related to the proper name, but it looks more like a phonetic reduction of ⟨*paup⟩, an altered derivative of palpar (“to feel, grope”), "one who gropes his way", hence "credulous, simple".^[14][5] Wiktionary gives both explanations.^[1]

Coromines accepts the name for the Mallorcan sense, a man with marvellous healing powers, but not for "simpleton", which is used in Central Catalan and most of the Principality.^[2] In that sense the word is a synonym of Mallorcan ⟨paupa⟩, derived from the same verb, and he explains the loss of /p/ by the same reduction as in the place names Montcau from ⟨Mont calb⟩ and Espinau from ⟨Espinalb⟩, and in trau beside trauc.^[2]

No source gives an etymology for the fish name, the spotted dragonet: Fabra and the DIEC2 list it under the same headword as the simpleton, while the DCVB and the DEIEC give it an article of its own.^{[12][11][3][13]}

Semantic evolution

In Mallorca a pau is a man born and baptised on Saint Paul's day, believed to cure poisoned wounds by sucking out the blood; women with this gift are called paues.^[3] Coromines lists the local derivatives paüc, paueria, paula and paulet.^[2] Fabra's dictionary of 1932 gives the simpleton and the fish under one headword.^[12]

Timeline

• 1932 – Fabra records pau “a guileless person who believes everything” and the fish Callionymus maculatus.^[12]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Guileless and credulous, believing everything.^[11][13][1]

Noun

1. A simpleton: fer el pau, to play the fool.^[11][5]
2. (Mallorca) A man born on Saint Paul's day, believed to have the power of curing poisoned wounds.^[3][2]
3. (ichthyology) The spotted dragonet, a small fish of sandy shallow bottoms (Callionymus maculatus).^[11][5][1]