palma

Forms

palma f (plural palmas)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish palma, inherited from Latin palma (“palm of the hand; dwarf palm”).^[2][1][3][4] In Latin the tree sense grew out of the hand sense, by comparing the fan-shaped leaves of the palm with a hand and its fingers.^[3][5] Covarrubias (1611) already explained the name of the tree in this way.^[6]

The same word is Portuguese palma, Catalan palma, Occitan palma, French paume, Italian palma and Romanian palmă.^[7][3] French palme “palm leaf” was taken from Occitan.^[7]

The Latin word goes back to Proto-Italic *palamā and to a form of the root Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂- (“flat”).^[8][1] Its cognates are Ancient Greek παλάμη (palámē, “palm of the hand”), Old Irish lám (“hand”), Old High German folma (“hand”) and Old English folm (“flat hand”).^[8] De Vaan rejects a borrowing from Greek, since it would not explain the Latin measure palmus, from which Spanish has palmo.^[8][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Almerich's Fazienda de Ultra Mar (c. 1200, in a 13th-century copy), in the sense “palm tree”: at Elim there were twelve springs and seventy palms (avia y .xij. fontanas de agua e .lxx. palmas).^[9][10] The Fuero de Zorita de los Canes (1218–c. 1250) has the hand sense: Del que firiere a otro con punno o con palma, “of whoever strikes another with the fist or the open hand”.^[9] Corominas's first record is Berceo, who already uses both senses.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

In Berceo palma is the palm of the hand (tendió ambas sues palmas), the palm tree, and figuratively the reward or victory of a saint.^[11] The Libro de Alexandre uses it for a slap, and Juan Manuel for the plant.^[3] Alfonso X's prose has both the tree and the palm of the hand.^[12]

Covarrubias (1611) records the palm as the sign of victory and the prize itself, and the phrases traer a alguno en palmas “to take great care of someone” and llano como la palma “perfectly flat, without difficulty”.^[6] Autoridades adds the palm branch carried on Palm Sunday, the palm of martyrdom and of virginity, and the dried leaf used to weave mats and baskets.^[13] The Academy's dictionary of 1817 has the part of a horse's hoof from the frog to the heel and the phrase andar en palmas “to be praised by all”.^[14] The plural for “clapping, applause” is in the modern dictionaries and in Judeo-Spanish (dar palmas).^[2][15]

In the Canaries palma is above all the Canary Island date palm, recorded from 1499.^[16] In Cuba the word alone means the royal palm.^[17] In Argentina and Uruguay it names a fan-shaped flower arrangement sent to funerals, and in Cuba a tall, thin person.^[18] The name palmera for the tree is recorded from 1737;^[4] Corominas takes it from Catalan.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 1200 – the Fazienda de Ultra Mar (13th-century copy) uses palmas for palm trees.^[9]
• 1218–c. 1250 – the Fuero de Zorita de los Canes uses palma for the open hand.^[9]
• c. 1230 – Berceo's Vida de San Millán (in an 18th-century copy) has palmas “palms of the hands”.^[9][3]
• 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario speaks of cracks in the palms of the hands.^[12]
• c. 1335 – first record of the derivative palmada.^[4]
• 1499 – a Tenerife council record speaks of cutting a tall palm.^[16]
• 1512 – first record from the Americas, escobas de palma in Puerto Rico.^[19]
• 1611 – Covarrubias calls the palm the sign of victory.^[6]
• 1737 – first record of palmera.^[4]
• 1884 – the Academy gives the etymology from Latin palma and a botanical definition.^[20]

Meanings

Noun

1. A palm tree; palmera.^[2][1]
2. The leaf of a palm tree.^[2][1]
3. A palm leaf tied up on the tree so that it stays pale, carried on Palm Sunday.^[2][21]
4. The date palm (datilera).^[2]
5. The dwarf palm (palmito).^[2]
6. The palm of the hand: Le leyó la palma en la feria.^[2][1]
7. Glory, triumph: llevarse la palma.^[2][22]
8. (botany) Any plant of the palm family, evergreen, with an unbranched woody stem crowned by large leaves.^[2]
9. (veterinary) The underside of the hoof of a horse or mule.^[2]
10. (in the plural) clapping, applause.^[2]
11. (Argentina, Uruguay) A fan-shaped flower arrangement sent to a funeral.^[18]
12. (Philippines) The coconut palm.^[1]

Word family

• palmada
• palmar
• palmito
• palmotear
• palmeado
• palmicha

Related words

• palmera
• palmeta
• palmo
• palmatoria
• Latin palma

Usage notes

Llevarse la palma means “to win, to be the best”.^[22][1] The capital of Majorca is also called Palma, a name Nebrija already recorded.^[23][1] The measure is palmo, from Latin palmus.^[3] Wiktionary records palma as a historical form of it.^[1]

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 l Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. palma
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 334
4. ^ a b c d e f Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. palma
5. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. palma
6. ^ a b c Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 1186
7. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ a b c 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 e Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. palma
10. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. palma
11. ^ Lanchetas, Rufino (1900), Gramática y vocabulario de las obras de Gonzalo de Berceo, Madrid: Sucesores de Rivadeneyra, p. 556
12. ^ a b Kasten, Lloyd A.; Nitti, John J.; Gago Jover, Francisco (2002–), Diccionario de la prosa castellana del Rey Alfonso X, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (electronic edition 2024), p. s.v. palma
13. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, 93
14. ^ Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 630
15. ^ Nehama, Joseph (1977), Dictionnaire du judéo-espagnol, Madrid: CSIC, p. s.v. palma
16. ^ a b Real Academia Española (2021–), Tesoro de los diccionarios históricos de la lengua española (TDHLE): Diccionario histórico (1933–1936), its unpublished slips, Diccionario histórico (1960–1996), DHECan, DHECR, DHEVen, https://www.rae.es/tdhle, p. s.v. palma
17. ^ Pichardo, Esteban (1836), Diccionario provincial de voces cubanas, Matanzas: Imprenta de la Real Marina, p. 192
18. ^ a b Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. palma
19. ^ Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, p. s.v. palma
20. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 779
21. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. palma
22. ^ a b Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. palma
23. ^ Lleal, Coloma (dir.), DICCA-XV: Diccionario del castellano del siglo XV en la Corona de Aragón, Barcelona: Universitat de Barcelona, Grup d'Estudis d'Història de la Llengua (GHCL), https://ghcl.ub.edu/diccaxv