pi

Forms

pi m (plural pins)^[1] The oldest record has the form pin, with the final /n/ that the plural pins keeps.^[2] The word is used over the whole language area; in the Ribagorça it becomes píno (plural pínos) at Benasc and la Pobla de Roda, and pín at Bielsa.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Catalan pin, the form of the first record, which is inherited from Latin pīnus (“pine tree”).^{[2][3][4][5][1]}

The same Latin word is Occitan pin, French pin, Italian pino, Spanish pino and Romanian pin.^[6][1] The troubadours wrote Old Occitan pin.^[7]

The origin of the Latin word is disputed: de Vaan considers a link with πίτυς (pítus, “pine”), or with pix (“pitch”) through a preform such as *pik-sno-, and allows that it may be a tree name taken from a non-Indo-European language.^[8] Wiktionary traces it to a derivative of Proto-Indo-European *poi- (“sap, juice”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

After the pin of 1033, the first literary example Coromines cites is in Llull's Blanquerna, where Faith, Truth and Blanquerna find Devotion praying sots un pi molt bel “under a very fine pine”.^[2][9] The word meant the tree, as it does today.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In the Middle Ages pi also meant the wood of the tree: an inventory of the castle of Ayora in 1431 lists old taules de pi, pine tables.^[10] The Catalan–Latin vocabulary of Busa and Nebrija (1507) already distinguishes the pine that bears edible seeds and the pi negral.^[2]

The species have many local names: pi negre in most of the Pyrenees and the Montsant, pi carrasser, pi ver in the Priorat, pi màscle and pi femella in the valley of Cardós.^[2] Fabra's dictionary of 1932 names the pi blanc, the pi melis and the pi negre with their Latin species names.^[11]

Bruguera dates pinya and pinyó to Llull, pinassa to 1341 and pineda to the 14th century.^[5] pinar “pine wood” is recorded at Tortosa in 1331; much of Valencia says pinada instead.^[2]

Timeline

• 1033 – the form pin in a document.^[2][4]
• 13th century – sots un pi molt bel in Llull's Blanquerna.^[2][9]
• 1381 – Bernat Metge names lo gran pi among the trees of the Llibre de Fortuna e Prudència.^[10]
• 1431 – taules de pi in an inventory of the castle of Ayora.^[10]
• 1507 – the Busa–Nebrija vocabulary lists pi, pi que fa pinyons and pi negral.^[2]
• 1839 – Labèrnia describes the pine and its uses in building ships and houses.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. pine, an evergreen tree of the genus Pinus, with needle-shaped leaves and woody cones that hold the seeds: Vam dinar a l'ombra d'un pi.^[13][4][1]
2. The wood of the pine, pinewood.^[1][10]

Word family

• pinar
• pinassa
• pineda
• pinetell
• pinetó
• pinós

Related words

• pinya
• pinyó
• Latin pīnus
• Occitan pin
• Spanish pino

Usage notes

The same spelling is a feminine noun, la pi, the name of the Greek letter π and of the mathematical constant it stands for, 3.141592…; the GDLC derives it from Greek.^[13][4][11]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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. 6, 510
3. ^ Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. pi
4. ^ a b c d Enciclopèdia Catalana, Gran diccionari de la llengua catalana (GDLC), Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana; online edition, https://www.diccionari.cat, p. s.v. pi
5. ^ a b Bruguera, Jordi (1996), Diccionari etimològic, Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana, p. 707
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 6519
7. ^ Raynouard, François-Just-Marie (1838–1844), Lexique roman, ou dictionnaire de la langue des troubadours, 6 vols., Paris: Silvestre, p. 4, 543
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 Nou glossari general lul·lià (NGGL), Centre de Documentació Ramon Llull, Universitat de Barcelona, https://nggl.ub.edu, p. s.v. pi
10. ^ a b c d Faraudo de Saint-Germain, Lluís, Vocabulari de la llengua catalana medieval, online edition, Barcelona: Institut d'Estudis Catalans, p. s.v. pi
11. ^ a b Fabra, Pompeu (1932), Diccionari general de la llengua catalana, Barcelona: Llibreria Catalònia, p. s.v. pi
12. ^ Labèrnia, Pere (1839–1840), Diccionari de la llengua catalana ab la correspondencia castellana y llatina, 2 vols., Barcelona, p. s.v. pi
13. ^ a b Institut d'Estudis Catalans (2007), Diccionari de la llengua catalana, 2nd ed. (DIEC2), Barcelona: Edicions 62; online edition with later updates, https://dlc.iec.cat, p. s.v. pi