plaure

Forms

plaure (first-person singular present plac, first-person singular preterite plaguí, past participle plagut)^[1] The DCVB records /ˈplawɾə/ and /ˈplawɾe/;^[1] Wiktionary gives the first for Central, Balearic and Northern Catalan and the second for North-Western and Valencian.^[2][1] Old Catalan had the infinitives plaer and plaser, and Llull also placer.^[3][4] The old subjunctive was plàcia;^[3] plagui replaced it after the Middle Ages, but Menorca keeps plàcia a Déu in pious formulas.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Catalan plaer, which is inherited from Latin placeō (“to be pleasing”).^[3][2][5][1] Like voler, valer and saber it was at first a verb with an infinitive in ⟨-er⟩; the modern infinitive was made by analogy, on the model of forms such as ⟨plau⟩ “it pleases”.^[3][1] The regular outcome survives as the noun plaer “pleasure”.^[3]

The same Latin verb is Occitan plaire, French plaire, Italian piacere, Spanish placer, Portuguese prazer and Romanian plăcea.^[6][1]

The Latin verb is related to plācō (“to appease”); de Vaan lists placidus (“calm”) and displiceō (“to displease”) among its derivatives.^[7][1]

In the oldest spelling, ⟨plader⟩, the Latin ⟨c⟩ before /e/ was still a voiced fricative, written ⟨d⟩; later it was lost.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Homilies d'Organyà have the infinitive as a noun, a Déu plader “pleasure to God”, and the personal form si a tu platz “if it pleases you”.^[3] A document from the Seu d'Urgell of 1230–1257 already has the modern plau.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Plaer was still used as an infinitive in the 13th century;^[3] Coromines finds the analogical plaure in Bernat Metge, and CICA's first plaure is the 1343 manuscript of the Llibre dels fets.^[3][8] The contracted noun pler appears in Llull, and phrases like a pler “at ease” and a pleret “slowly” are still alive in the Pyrenees and in Eivissa.^[3]

Faraudo quotes the impersonal use with a dative, feu ne ço que li plach “he did with it what pleased him”, from Desclot.^[9] Fabra gives the courtesy formula si us plau “please” and si us plau per força “whether you like it or not”.^[10] Among the derivatives desplaure is in Desclot, complaure is recorded in 1388 and plaent in Llull.^[11]

Timeline

• 1100s – plader and platz in the Homilies d'Organyà.^[3][11]
• 1230–1257 – plau in a document from the Seu d'Urgell.^[3]
• 1283 – Desclot writes ço que li plach.^[9]
• 1343 – plaure in the manuscript of the Llibre dels fets, CICA's first record of the modern infinitive.^[8]
• 1388 – first record of complaure.^[11]
• 1932 – Fabra gives si us plau.^[10]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive) To please, to be to someone's liking.^[12][2]
2. (intransitive) To suit, to seem right: Ho farem així, us plagui o no.^[12]
3. si us plau: the courtesy formula of polite requests, English “please”.^[12][10]
4. si us plau per força: whether one likes it or not.^[12]

Word family

• complaure
• complaença
• complaent
• descomplaure
• descomplaent
• desplaure
• desplaent
• desplaentment
• desplaer
• plaentment
• pler
• pleret

Related words

• plaer
• Latin placeō
• Occitan plaire

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. plaure
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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, 599
4. ^ Nou glossari general lul·lià (NGGL), Centre de Documentació Ramon Llull, Universitat de Barcelona, https://nggl.ub.edu, p. s.v. plaure
5. ^ Enciclopèdia Catalana, Gran diccionari de la llengua catalana (GDLC), Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana; online edition, https://www.diccionari.cat, p. s.v. plaure
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 6557
7. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. placeō
8. ^ a b Torruella, Joan; Pérez Saldanya, Manuel; Martines, Josep (dirs.), Corpus Informatitzat del Català Antic (CICA), https://www.cica.cat, p. s.v. plaure
9. ^ a b Faraudo de Saint-Germain, Lluís, Vocabulari de la llengua catalana medieval, online edition, Barcelona: Institut d'Estudis Catalans, p. s.v. plaure
10. ^ a b c Fabra, Pompeu (1932), Diccionari general de la llengua catalana, Barcelona: Llibreria Catalònia, p. s.v. plaure
11. ^ a b c Bruguera, Jordi (1996), Diccionari etimològic, Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana, p. 719
12. ^ a b c d 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. plaure