platja

Forms

platja f (plural platges)^[1] Old Catalan wrote plaja and plage;^[2][3] platja appears in the 14th century.^[4][2][3] The DCVB records the pronunciations [pláʤə], [pláʤa], [pláʧa] and [pláʒə].^[5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin plagia (“shore, beach”).^{[4][5][6][7][1]} The Late Latin word is recorded from the end of the 6th century.^[8] Coromines, Bruguera and the GDLC derive the Late Latin word probably from Ancient Greek πλάγια (plágia, “sides, flanks”), the plural of πλάγιος (plágios, “slanting, transverse”): the sense would have passed from “sides” to “slope” and then to “sea coast”.^[4][6][7][9] Wiktionary sees it as perhaps a blend of the Greek word with plaga (“tract, region”), and compares Modern Greek πλαγιά (plagiá, “mountain slope”).^[1] Alibert derives it from the Latin word alone.^[10]

The same Late Latin word is Occitan plaja, Spanish playa, Portuguese praia, Galician praia, French plage and Italian spiaggia.^[1][10] The Spanish word is first recorded in the middle of the 14th century.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word first appears in a half-Latin document from Roussillon of 1283, de plagia de Caneto, the beach of Canet.^[4][6][7] In Jaume I's chronicle the fleet for Mallorca gathers in the port of Salou e en la plaja, on the beach, and in Cambrils and Tarragona.^[4] From the first the word means the sea shore.^[6][4]

Semantic evolution

Medieval documents often name a stretch of coast by it, the plaja of Canet or of Barcelona, Muntaner uses it, and the Consolat de mar speaks of a ship rigged in a port or on a beach.^[4] Its exact legal extent was disputed: in 1390 a royal declaration on the privilege of the Consolat de Mar laid down that plage meant not only the water but the whole shore from the water's edge to the wall.^[4]

Labèrnia defines it as a nearly flat shore of the sea or of large rivers, usually a poor anchorage.^[11] Fabra describes it as a level shore of sand or pebbles, and the DIEC2 adds the shores of lakes and gravel.^[12][13] The GDLC adds a sense in optics, and Wiktionary a railway sense.^[7][1] The diminutive platjola is a derivative.^[6]

Timeline

• 1283 – first record, in a half-Latin document from Roussillon: de plagia de Caneto.^[4][6]
• 13th century – plaja in Jaume I's chronicle.^[4]
• 1309 – plaja in a plan for the conquest of Almería.^[4]
• 1343–1349 – the spelling platja in a document on the reunion of Mallorca with the Crown of Aragon.^[3]
• 1390 – a royal declaration defines the plage of the Consolat de Mar.^[4]
• 1460 – la plage de la mar of the city, in the Novells ardits.^[2]
• 1839 – Labèrnia lists platja.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A beach: a low shore of the sea, a lake or a large river, usually of sand or gravel: Diumenge vam anar a la platja.^[13][7][1]
2. (optics) A luminous surface, as opposed to a point source.^[7]
3. (railways) A yard.^[1]

Word family

• platjola

Related words

• Late Latin plagia
• Occitan plaja
• Spanish playa
• French plage

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Faraudo de Saint-Germain, Lluís, Vocabulari de la llengua catalana medieval, online edition, Barcelona: Institut d'Estudis Catalans, p. s.v. platja
3. ^ a b c Torruella, Joan; Pérez Saldanya, Manuel; Martines, Josep (dirs.), Corpus Informatitzat del Català Antic (CICA), https://www.cica.cat, p. s.v. platja
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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, 596
5. ^ a b Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. platja
6. ^ a b c d e f Bruguera, Jordi (1996), Diccionari etimològic, Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana, p. 719
7. ^ a b c d e f Enciclopèdia Catalana, Gran diccionari de la llengua catalana (GDLC), Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana; online edition, https://www.diccionari.cat, p. s.v. platja
8. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. playa
9. ^ a b Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 574
10. ^ a b Alibert, Louis (1966), Dictionnaire occitan-français selon les parlers languedociens, Toulouse: Institut d'Études Occitanes, p. s.v. plaja
11. ^ a b Labèrnia, Pere (1839–1840), Diccionari de la llengua catalana ab la correspondencia castellana y llatina, 2 vols., Barcelona, p. s.v. platja
12. ^ Fabra, Pompeu (1932), Diccionari general de la llengua catalana, Barcelona: Llibreria Catalònia, p. s.v. platja
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. platja