puny

Forms

puny m (plural punys)^[1] Old Catalan also wrote puyn, from the Furs de València (1261–1271) to the early 15th century.^[2][3] Bernat Metge rhymes pung with juny.^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin pugnus (“fist”).^{[3][5][6][7][1]}

The same Latin word is Occitan ponh, Spanish puño, Portuguese punho, French poing, Italian pugno and Romanian pumn.^[8][1]

Wiktionary takes the Latin noun back to *pewǵ- (“to prick, punch”), with Ancient Greek πυγμή (pugmḗ, “fist”) as a near cognate; the Oxford Latin Dictionary compares pugil (“boxer”) and the Greek words.^[1][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest record in CICA is the Catalan Usatges de Barcelona, of the first half of the 13th century.^[10] Coromines quotes the charges against Pere de Palau, bailiff of Camarasa, of 1295–1299: a man complains that another struck him with his fist (ab lo puyn) and threatened to cut off his ears; and Llull's Blanquerna, where a man brings a sparrowhawk back to his fist.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

Medieval texts also used the word for a fistful, un bon puny de sal, and for the cuff of a sleeve, recorded in 1360.^[4] Bernat Metge has tenir al puny, to have someone at one's mercy.^[4] Muntaner tells of prisoners whose hands were cut off, tolre los punys.^[3]

Fabra always recommended puny for the wrist, which Coromines considers well founded and the starting point of the cuff of a shirt.^[3][11] In the eastern Pyrenees the wrist is called punyet, which since 1400 has also meant the cuff.^[3] In Ibiza fer de puny means to box.^[3]

Bruguera dates punyada to Jaume I and punyal to Muntaner.^[6]

Timeline

• 1200–1249 – puny in the Usatges de Barcelona.^[10]
• 1261–1271 – puyn in the Furs de València.^[2]
• late 13th century – Llull's Blanquerna: a sparrowhawk is called back to the fist.^[12][3]
• 1295 – a man struck ab lo puyn at Camarasa.^[4][3]
• 1360 – punys as the cuffs of a shirt, in an inventory of the infanta Joana.^[4]
• 1381 – Bernat Metge: tinch al pung, I hold in my fist.^[4]
• 1932 – Fabra gives the wrist as the first sense.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A fist, the closed hand: Va donar un cop de puny a la taula.^[13][7][1]
2. A small handful.^[13][1]
3. The wrist.^[13][7][1]
4. The cuff of a sleeve.^[13][1]
5. The hilt of a sword or other weapon; the handle of an oar.^[13][1]
6. (nautical) A corner of a sail.^[13]

Word family

• empunyar
• empunyadura
• punyada
• punyal
• apunyalar
• punyalada
• punyet
• punyeta
• apunyegar

Related words

• punyar
• impugnar
• Latin pugnus
• Occitan ponh
• Spanish puño

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Torruella, Joan; Pérez Saldanya, Manuel; Martines, Josep (dirs.), Corpus Informatitzat del Català Antic (CICA), https://www.cica.cat, p. s.v. puyn
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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, 874
4. ^ a b c d e f g Faraudo de Saint-Germain, Lluís, Vocabulari de la llengua catalana medieval, online edition, Barcelona: Institut d'Estudis Catalans, p. s.v. puny
5. ^ Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. puny
6. ^ a b Bruguera, Jordi (1996), Diccionari etimològic, Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana, p. 761
7. ^ a b c Enciclopèdia Catalana, Gran diccionari de la llengua catalana (GDLC), Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana; online edition, https://www.diccionari.cat, p. s.v. puny
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 6814
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b Torruella, Joan; Pérez Saldanya, Manuel; Martines, Josep (dirs.), Corpus Informatitzat del Català Antic (CICA), https://www.cica.cat, p. s.v. puny
11. ^ a b Fabra, Pompeu (1932), Diccionari general de la llengua catalana, Barcelona: Llibreria Catalònia, p. s.v. puny
12. ^ Nou glossari general lul·lià (NGGL), Centre de Documentació Ramon Llull, Universitat de Barcelona, https://nggl.ub.edu, p. s.v. puny
13. ^ a b c d e f 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. puny