pluma

Forms

pluma f (plural plumas)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin plūma (“feather, down”), recorded in Spanish from a charter of 1195.^[2][3][4][1] The word keeps the Latin cluster /pl/, which in inherited words normally became /ʎ/ (⟨ll⟩).^[1] A popular form with that change may have existed before the written record: Corominas points to the Old Spanish derivative llumazo and to Portuguese chumaço “pad, cushion”.^[2][1] He does not take the word for a learned or even a semi-learned word, but suggests that the more conservative pronunciation of the upper classes won, since in a simple economy feathers were a luxury of the wealthy.^[2] Wiktionary allows both views: an early semi-learned term or a conservative pronunciation.^[1]

The Latin word is continued by Italian piuma, French plume, Occitan pluma and Catalan ploma.^[5][6] Old Portuguese had pruma, and the modern pluma is a fully learned form; the usual Portuguese word is pena.^[2] In Spanish, too, it took the place of the other Latin word for a feather, Latin penna.^[7]

De Vaan takes the Latin word as a noun in *-mo- from a root meaning “to float, fly”, perhaps Proto-Indo-European *pleu-, and compares Old Prussian plauxdine “featherbed” and Lithuanian plùnksna “feather”.^[8] Gómez de Silva derives it from a root *pleus- “feather”.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas's first record is a charter of 1195.^[2][3] In the Libro de Alexandre (1240–1250, in a 15th-century copy) fate runs faster than nin viento, nin pluma “neither wind nor feather”.^[10] The first record in a contemporary manuscript is in Alfonso X's Judizios de las estrellas (1254–1260), in a list of materials: lana o pluma “wool or feathers”.^[10][11]

Semantic evolution

In the 13th century the word meant a feather and, collectively, the down used to fill bedding: a will of 1258 leaves two mattresses con pluma.^[10][11] The quill used for writing gave the later senses.^[3] Autoridades (1737) defines it as a bird's feather and as the quill one writes with, and extends it to any writing instrument, to skill in handwriting and to the writer himself.^[12][13] It also records the jocular sense “fart”, the sense “wealth” (Fulano tiene pluma), a nautical tackle and, in thieves' cant, “oar”.^[13] Covarrubias in 1611 describes the punishment of smearing procuresses with honey and covering them with feathers, called emplumar.^[14]

The steel pen and the fountain pen inherited the name of the quill.^[3][4] In Mexico a ballpoint pen is a pluma atómica.^[4] Colloquial Spanish uses tener pluma for an effeminate manner in a man.^[4][1] In the Canaries pluma is also a tall pole decked with branches and flags for local festivals.^[15]

Timeline

• 1195 – a charter, the first record Corominas gives.^[2][3]
• 1240–1250 – the Libro de Alexandre (in a 15th-century copy).^[10]
• 1254–1260 – Alfonso X's Judizios de las estrellas.^[10]
• 1258 – a will from Navarre leaves feather mattresses.^[10]
• 1490 – the derivative plumaje “plumage”.^[3]
• 1495 – Nebrija records desplumar and emplumar.^[3]
• 1532 – the first record from the Americas, in Mexico, of rich featherwork.^[16]
• 1591 – Percyvall glosses it “a feather, a pen”.^[17]
• 1737 – Autoridades gives the senses “quill pen” and “writer”.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. A feather: each of the horny structures, with a hollow quill and a shaft with barbs, that cover a bird's body.^[4][1]
2. Feathers collectively, as filling: un abrigo relleno de pluma.^[4]
3. A quill cut at the tip and used for writing.^[4][1]
4. A metal nib fixed in a holder, used in the same way; a fountain pen.^[4][1]
5. (Mexico) A ballpoint pen.^[1][4]
6. Skill in handwriting.^[4]
7. (figurative) A writer; a style or manner of writing; the profession of writing: vive de su pluma.^[4][1]
8. A shaving that comes off wood being turned on a lathe.^[4]
9. The jib of a crane.^[4]
10. A cut of pork behind the shoulder.^[4]
11. (colloquial) A fart.^[4]
12. (colloquial) An effeminate manner in a man's speech or gestures.^[4][1]

Word family

• plumada
• plumado
• plumaje
• plumero
• plumilla
• plumón
• desplumar
• emplumar
• buchipluma
• cortaplumas
• plumín

Related words

• chumacera
• implume
• plúmeo
• Latin plūma
• Portuguese chumaço
• English plume

Usage notes

In boxing peso pluma is the featherweight class.^[18] The phrase a vuela pluma means “writing quickly, without much thought”.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 583
3. ^ a b c d e f g Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. pluma
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p 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. pluma
5. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 6610a
6. ^ 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, 619
7. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. pluma
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. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 555
10. ^ a b c d e f Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. pluma
11. ^ 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. pluma
12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, 301
13. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. s.v. pluma
14. ^ Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 1219
15. ^ 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. pluma
16. ^ 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. pluma
17. ^ Percyvall, Richard (1591), Bibliothecae Hispanicae pars altera: containing a dictionarie in Spanish, English and Latine, London: John Jackson for Richard Watkins, p. 191
18. ^ Segura Munguía, Santiago (2014), Lexicón etimológico y semántico del latín y de las voces actuales que proceden de raíces latinas o griegas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 561