palm

English has two words spelled palm, both from Latin palma, palm of the hand: the tree, taken into Old English, and the inner surface of the hand, which came later through French.^[1][2][3]

Pronunciation

• IPA: /pɑːm/, /pɑm/^[4]

palm¹ tree

Etymology

The tree is inherited from Old English palma, palm, borrowed from Latin palma (“palm tree; palm of the hand”),^[1][2][5][6] an early borrowing like Old Saxon palma, Old High German palma and Old Norse pálmr,^[5][2][6] reinforced in Middle English by Old French palme.^[1][5] The tree is named from the shape of its leaves, like a hand with spread fingers.^[2][1][7] Etymonline notes that the word reached northern Europe, where the tree does not grow, through Christianity.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

About 825 in the OED, before 830 in Barnhart.^[8][1]

Semantic evolution

A leaf or branch of the palm, carried as a symbol of victory, is from about 1200,^[8] and figuratively victory or supreme honour, as in bear the palm, from about 1386, the late 14th century in Etymonline.^[8][2] Word Origins says that in ancient Rome a palm branch was placed in the hands of the victor.^[3] Palm Sunday is Old English palm-sunnandæg,^[2] and in northern Europe other branches, such as willow, were used instead of palm from 1375.^[8] Palm oil, from the fruit, is from 1705,^[2] and the hotel palm court by 1908.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 825 – the palm tree.^[8]
• c. 1200 – a palm branch as a symbol of victory.^[8]
• c. 1386 – victory, prize.^[8]
• 1705 – palm oil.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. Any of a family of tropical and subtropical trees, usually with a tall unbranched trunk crowned by large fronds.
2. A palm leaf as a symbol of victory; victory or honour.

Word family

• palmy
• palm oil
• Palm Sunday
• palmetto

palm² inside of the hand

Etymology

The hand is Middle English palme, paume, borrowed from Old French palme, paume, from Latin palma (“palm of the hand”),^[1][2][6] cognate with Ancient Greek παλάμη (palámē, “palm of the hand”), Old Irish lám and Old English folm (“hand”) (see fumble),^[1][2] from PIE Proto-Indo-European *pele- (“flat; to spread”).^[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The flat of the hand: probably before 1300, in Kyng Alisaunder, in Barnhart;^[1] about 1300 in Etymonline.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The verb, to conceal in the hand, as cheats do with cards or dice, is from the 1670s, as is to impose something on someone by fraud;^[2][3] palm off is from 1822.^[2] To touch or stroke with the palm is from the late 15th century.^[9] Palm oil as a pun for a bribe (1620s) is earlier than the literal oil.^[2] Reading the lines of the palm is palmistry.^[10]

Timeline

• before 1300 – the palm of the hand.^[1]
• 1620s – palm oil, a bribe.^[2]
• 1670s – to conceal in the hand.^[2]
• 1822 – palm off.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The inner surface of the hand between the wrist and the fingers.
2. The part of a glove covering the palm.

Verb

1. To hide something in the hand, as in a conjuring trick.
2. palm off: to get rid of something by deception.

Word family

• palmistry
• palmar
• palmate

Related words

• fumble
• plain
• plane

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
5. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin