polpa

Forms

polpa f (plural polpes)^[1] In the Balearic Islands a fairly widespread variant is popa, with ⟨olp⟩ reduced to ⟨op⟩.^[2] Febrer i Cardona already records it.^[2] The DCVB heads the word under this form and records [póɫpə] and [pópə].^[3] Escrig's Valencian dictionary gives the variant polpla.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin pulpa (“flesh, the fleshy parts; pulp of fruit”).^[2][4][5][1]

The same Latin word is Romanian pulpă, Italian polpa, Old Occitan polpa, Portuguese polpa and Old French poupe; Spanish pulpa is semi-learned.^[6][7] In parts of Occitan and Catalan the word has also meant the calf of the leg.^[6]

The Umbrian genitive ⟨pelmner⟩ “of meat” shows that the Latin vowel was once /e/, so de Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *pelpā- (“meat”); its further origin is unknown.^[8][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Llull's Llibre de contemplació, which Faraudo dates 1272, asks God to heal mos ossos e mes polpes, “my bones and my flesh”.^[9] In Llull the word means the soft muscular part of a human or animal body, as opposed to bone.^[10] Coromines, Bruguera and the GDLC date the first record 1275, in Llull.^[2][4][5]

Semantic evolution

The medieval sense is the flesh of the body: a rule of 1298 for the fish stalls of Perpignan has fish cut from the tail up to the polpa, and the 14th-century Cavaller Tuglat describes devils gnawing the flesh down to the bones.^[2] Ausiàs March writes of a body losing much of its polpa.^[2] The Tròtula already uses it for the flesh of a watermelon.^[9]

Pal·las in 1927 also gave it for the fleshy part of the hand at the base of the thumb.^[11] Fabra defined it as a moist, slightly coherent mass of animal or vegetable matter, and named the polpa of the fingers and of the ear.^[12] The DCVB adds the best or most substantial part of a thing.^[3] Among the derivatives, polpós is recorded in 1617 and despolpar in the 15th century.^[4] The form polpís (Escrig, 1851) became palpís in Central Catalan.^[4][2]

Timeline

• 1272 – Llull's Llibre de contemplació: mos ossos e mes polpes.^[9][10]
• 1275 – the date Coromines, Bruguera and the GDLC give for the first record, in Llull.^[2][4][5]
• 1298 – a rule for the fish market of Perpignan.^[2]
• 1305–1310 – Arnau de Vilanova's Regiment de sanitat.^[13]
• 1405 – Anselm Turmeda's Profecies: veuran ta polpa.^[9]
• 1617 – polpós first recorded.^[4]
• 1839 – Labèrnia's dictionary heads polpa.^[14]
• 1932 – Fabra names the dental pulp and the pulp of the fingers.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. The fleshy part of a fruit or other plant organ: pulp, flesh: Aquests préssecs tenen molta polpa.^[15][5]
2. (anatomy) The fleshy or soft part of an organ or part of the body, as the dental pulp (polpa dentària).^{[15][5][15][5]}
3. polpa dels dits: the fleshy tip of the fingers.^[15]
4. A moist, slightly coherent mass of undissolved animal or vegetable matter.^[3][12]
5. (figurative) The best or most substantial part of something.^[3]

Word family

• polpar
• despolpar
• polpós
• polpís
• palpís

Related words

• Latin pulpa
• Italian polpa

Usage notes

The Balearic popa is also the spelling of two other words with their own DCVB articles: the stern of a ship, from Latin puppis, and the breast.^[3] Coromines rejects Alcover's preference for popa over polpa as the standard form, though he accepts it in local speech.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f 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, 659
3. ^ a b c d e Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. popa
4. ^ a b c d e f Bruguera, Jordi (1996), Diccionari etimològic, Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana, p. 730
5. ^ 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. polpa
6. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 6834
7. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 688
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 Faraudo de Saint-Germain, Lluís, Vocabulari de la llengua catalana medieval, online edition, Barcelona: Institut d'Estudis Catalans, p. s.v. polpa
10. ^ a b Nou glossari general lul·lià (NGGL), Centre de Documentació Ramon Llull, Universitat de Barcelona, https://nggl.ub.edu, p. s.v. polpa
11. ^ Vallès, Emili (1927), Pal·las: diccionari català il·lustrat, Barcelona: Salvat, p. s.v. polpa
12. ^ a b c Fabra, Pompeu (1932), Diccionari general de la llengua catalana, Barcelona: Llibreria Catalònia, p. s.v. polpa
13. ^ Torruella, Joan; Pérez Saldanya, Manuel; Martines, Josep (dirs.), Corpus Informatitzat del Català Antic (CICA), https://www.cica.cat, p. s.v. polpa
14. ^ Labèrnia, Pere (1839–1840), Diccionari de la llengua catalana ab la correspondencia castellana y llatina, 2 vols., Barcelona, p. s.v. polpa
15. ^ 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. polpa