palma

palma¹ palm of the hand

Etymology tree of palma¹

inherited borrowed derived

Latin palma

French paume

Italian palma

Romanian palmă

Spanish palma

English palm

From the same root · palma¹

Latin palmārius ← palma

Latin palmus ← palma

Pronunciation

• /ˈpal.ma/^[1]

Forms

palma f (plural palme)^[1]

Etymology

The word for the palm of the hand is inherited from Latin palma (“palm of the hand; open hand”), the same Latin word that gave the name of the palm tree (homograph 2).^[2][3][4] It is found across the Romance languages: French paume, Occitan pauma, Catalan palma, Spanish palma, Portuguese palma, Sardinian pramma and Romanian palmă.^[3][5]

The Latin noun corresponds to Ancient Greek παλάμη (palámē, “palm of the hand”), Old Irish lám (“hand”), Old English folm (“flat hand”) and Old High German folma.^[3][6][1] It goes back to Proto-Indo-European *pl̥h₂meh₂, from the root of plānus (“flat”) (whence piano), as the flat part of the hand.^[1][3][6][7] Some have taken the Latin word as a loan from Greek, but de Vaan rejects this because it would not explain palmus (“a palm's width”).^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is the Questioni filosofiche, from south-eastern Tuscany, after 1298, for the inner part of the hand between the wrist and the fingers.^[8] DELI dates it 1310 in Zucchero Bencivenni and 1300–1313 in Dante, who in Purgatorio shows a king who has “made a bed for his cheek of his palm, sighing”.^[2][9]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian had tendere le palme, to stretch out the palms in prayer or entreaty, and battersi a palme, to beat oneself with the palms in despair, used by Dante and Boccaccio;^[8][10] portare in palme di mano meant to carry a dead body in one's arms as an honour.^[8][10] Poets used palma for the whole hand, and Dante's con l'una e l'altra palma means “with both hands”.^[10] The modern portare qualcuno in palma di mano means to hold someone in high regard.^[4][7]

Learned derivatives followed: palmipede “web-footed” (1499), palmare “of the palm” (before 1673) and “obvious” (1691), and palminervio, of a leaf with veins spreading like a hand (1875).^[2] In recent Italian palmare is also a handheld computer.^[11]

Timeline

• After 1298 – The Questioni filosofiche use palma.^[8]
• 1300–1313 – Dante uses it.^[2]
• 1310 – Zucchero Bencivenni uses it.^[2]
• 1499 – Palmipede appears in Francesco Colonna.^[2]
• 1691 – Palmare “obvious” is recorded.^[2]
• 1875 – Palminervio is recorded.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The palm of the hand, between the wrist and the fingers; in poetry, the whole hand: giungere le palme.^[4][12][13]
2. (zoology) The web between the toes of web-footed birds.^[4][12][13]
3. (literary) The blade of an oar.^[4][12][13]
4. (nautical) The flat part of the flukes of an anchor.^[12][13]
5. portare qualcuno in palma di mano: to hold someone in the highest regard.^[4][14][7]

Word family

• palmare
• palmato
• palmipede
• palminervio
• spalmare

palma² palm tree

Etymology tree of palma²

inherited borrowed derived

Latin palma

French paume

Italian palma

Romanian palmă

Spanish palma

English palm

From the same root · palma²

Latin palmārius ← palma

Latin palmus ← palma

Pronunciation

• /ˈpal.ma/^[1]

Forms

palma f (plural palme)^[1]

Etymology

The word for the palm tree is inherited from Latin palma (“palm tree; palm branch”), the Latin word for the palm of the hand (homograph 1) used for the tree.^[2][3][15] Nocentini explains the transfer by the likeness of the fronds, spreading from the top of the trunk, to the fingers of a hand.^[3] DELI and Devoto give the Latin steps as the hand, then the part of a trunk from which the branches spring, especially in the palm, then the tree.^[2][16]

The tree is Old Occitan palma (borrowed into French as palme), Catalan palma, Spanish palma, Portuguese palma and Sardinian pramma.^[5] Latin also passed the word to English palm.^[17] The learned derivatives palmeto and palmizio go back to palmētum and palmicius.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is the Roman Storie de Troia e de Roma (1252–1258), for the tall unbranched tree crowned by a tuft of large leaves, apparently the date palm.^[8][3] DELI's first record is Giordano da Pisa's Lenten sermons of 1305–1306.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian already used the word for the frond or branch with its symbolic and ritual value, for brooms made of palm leaves, and for palm fibre woven into goods; in Boccaccio a woman makes a bed of palm fronds.^[8][10] The palm as the sign of victory, and so “victory, prize”, is in Dante (before 1321).^[2] Pilgrims, the commentator Buti explains, brought home a staff girded with palm as a sign that they had been to the Holy Land.^[10] The martyr's palm is a sign of the glory granted to those who die for the faith.^[18]

The palm or olive branch given out on Palm Sunday is recorded in Paolo Giovio in 1543.^[2] Church Latin called the feast dies palmarum (Isidore), dominica in palmis (7th century) and dominica palmarum (10th century), whence Italian domenica delle palme.^[2]

Derivatives include palmizio “date palm” (before 1311) and later the plaited palm or olive branch blessed on Palm Sunday (1612), palmeto “palm grove” (before 1499), and palmetta, a stylised palm ornament (1758) taken from French palmette.^[2]

Timeline

• 1252–1258 – The Storie de Troia e de Roma use palma for the tree.^[8]
• 1305–1306 – Giordano da Pisa uses it.^[2][4]
• Before 1311 – Palmizio “date palm” is recorded.^[2]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses palma for victory.^[2]
• Before 1499 – Palmeto “palm grove” is recorded.^[2]
• 1543 – Paolo Giovio uses it for the Palm Sunday branch.^[2]
• 1758 – Palmetta is recorded as an ornament.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A palm tree: a tree with an upright unbranched trunk crowned by a tuft of large leaves, growing wild in tropical and subtropical regions: un viale di palme.^[4][12][14]
2. (botany) A plant of the palm family; in the plural, capitalised, the family itself.^[4][12][7]
3. A palm frond, in antiquity a sign of victory; in Christian use a palm or olive branch, blessed on Palm Sunday (domenica delle palme).^[4][13][14]
4. (figurative) Victory, the prize: riportare la palma.^[4][12][13]
5. (epigraphy) A stylised palm used as an ornament or divider in late pagan inscriptions.^[4]

Word family

• palmeto
• palmetta
• palmizio
• palmola