pont

Forms

pont m (plural ponts)^[1] Coromines records the pronunciation with a close /o/, sometimes /u/, in the dioceses of Girona and Elna, and with an open /ɔ/ in the rest of Eastern Catalan;^[2] Balearic and Valencian keep the final /t/.^[2][3][1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin pōns (“bridge”), through its accusative.^{[2][3][4][5][1]}

The same Latin word is Occitan pònt, Spanish puente, French pont, Italian ponte, Portuguese ponte and Romanian punte.^[6][1] Unlike Spanish and Portuguese, where the word became feminine for a time, Catalan kept the Latin masculine.^[7]

The Latin noun continues *ponts and *póntoh₁s (“path, road”).^[1] De Vaan reconstructs a PIE word for "road", whose other descendants include Sanskrit पन्था (pánthā-, “road, path”).^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word appears in the Latin charters of the Pyrenean counties long before the vernacular texts: a document of 874 places a vineyard super ponte, at the bridge over the Noguera Ribagorçana below Aulet.^[2] Among the first vernacular records Coromines quotes Ramon Llull's story of a young man who sells all he has to build a hospital and a bridge, so that pilgrims may cross the river without drowning.^[2][9]

Semantic evolution

From the bridge over a river the word passed to other structures: medieval writers used it for the gangways and decks of ships and for wooden landing stages: Joanot Martorell has a great wooden bridge built out from the shore to the galleys.^[2][10] Bernat Metge's Lo somni (1381) already has the figurative phrase trencar lo pont, to burn one's bridges behind one.^[10]

The dictionaries of the 19th century list the bridge, the pontoon bridge, the drawbridge and the decks of a ship.^[11][12] Pal·las adds the bridge of a ship, where the officer of the watch stands, and the strip of wood in a piano that holds the strings taut.^[13] Fabra's dictionary of 1932 has fer el pont, taking the working days between two holidays off.^[14] In Menorca Coromines recorded pont de bens, an old domed shelter for sheep.^[2]

The word is very common in place names: Pont de Suert, named after the only well-built bridge of its district, appears from 1240 or 1247.^[2]

Timeline

• 874 – super ponte in a Latin charter of the Ribagorça.^[2]
• 1031 – the derivative pontarró appears as pontarrono in the cartulary of Sant Cugat.^[2]
• 1175–1199 – first record in a vernacular text in CICA, a complaint about abuses committed at Lleida.^[15]
• 1240s – the place name Lo Pont de Suert.^[2]
• late 13th century – Llull's Fèlix tells of a bridge built for pilgrims.^[9]
• 1381 – Bernat Metge writes trencha lo pont in Lo somni.^[10]
• 1460 – the Tirant lo Blanc has bridges of stone and of wood.^[10]
• 1932 – Fabra records fer el pont for a long weekend.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. A bridge: a structure that carries a road or path over a river, a valley or another road: Van construir un pont nou sobre el riu.^[16][5]
2. Anything shaped or placed like a bridge, such as the piece of a violin that holds up the strings, or the arch of the foot.^[16][1]
3. (nautical) A deck of a ship; the raised platform from which the officer of the watch commands.^[16][13]
4. (dentistry) A prosthesis fixed to the teeth on either side of a gap.^[5][1]
5. A working day between a holiday and the weekend, taken off to make a long break: Aquest any farem pont el dilluns.^[14][1]

Word family

• entrepont
• pontana
• pontar
• pontarró
• pontatge
• ponter
• pontet
• pontó
• pontona
• pontoner
• sotapont

Related words

• pontífex
• pontifical
• Latin pōns
• Occitan pònt
• Spanish puente

Usage notes

The DCVB heads a second pont, without senses, which it traces to the phrase dur el pondo, altered by analogy with this word.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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, 691
3. ^ 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. pont
4. ^ Bruguera, Jordi (1996), Diccionari etimològic, Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana, p. 735
5. ^ a b c Enciclopèdia Catalana, Gran diccionari de la llengua catalana (GDLC), Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana; online edition, https://www.diccionari.cat, p. s.v. pont
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 6649
7. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 674
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. pont
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. pont
11. ^ Labèrnia, Pere (1839–1840), Diccionari de la llengua catalana ab la correspondencia castellana y llatina, 2 vols., Barcelona, p. s.v. pont
12. ^ Una Societat de Catalans (1839), Diccionari catalá-castellá-llatí-frances-italiá, 2 vols., Barcelona: Joseph Torner, p. s.v. pont
13. ^ a b Vallès, Emili (1927), Pal·las: diccionari català il·lustrat, Barcelona: Salvat, p. s.v. pont
14. ^ a b c Fabra, Pompeu (1932), Diccionari general de la llengua catalana, Barcelona: Llibreria Catalònia, p. s.v. pont
15. ^ Torruella, Joan; Pérez Saldanya, Manuel; Martines, Josep (dirs.), Corpus Informatitzat del Català Antic (CICA), https://www.cica.cat, p. s.v. pont
16. ^ a b c 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. pont