Etymologically
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pala

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈpaː.ɫa][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈpaː.la][1]

Forms

pāla f (genitive pālae); first declension[1]

Etymology

It is probably inherited from Proto-Italic *pāg-slo- (“spade, pole”), an instrument noun from the root of pangō (“to fix, drive in”).[2][1] De Vaan derives both pālus1 (“stake”) and this word from that noun, whose root goes back to Proto-Indo-European *peh₂ǵ- (“to attach, fasten”).[2][1] The OLD calls the origin doubtful and compares pangō only tentatively,[3] and the TLL says it is not established.[4]

Varro already derived it from that verb.[5][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found first in Plautus,[3][6] in the Poenulus: palas vendundas sibi ait et mergas datas, “he says spades and forks were given him to sell”.[3]

Semantic evolution

Its basic sense is a long-handled spade with a pointed blade,[3] used for digging and for turning the soil: Cato lists four of them in an inventory of farm equipment, and Pliny the Elder says that a rushy field must be turned with the spade.[5][7] Cato also uses it for the baker's peel, the shovel that puts bread into the oven, and for a winnowing shovel.[5][7] Cicero applies it to the bezel of a ring, the part that holds the stone.[3][5][7]

In Late Latin the winnowing shovel appears in Tertullian and Cyprian, and in the Old Latin Bible at Matthew 3:12.[7][8] In the medical writer Caelius Aurelianus it is the shoulder blade.[5][7][8] British Medieval Latin kept the spade, the baker's peel and the winnowing fan, and added a fire rake and, in anatomy, a muscle of the back.[9] The word lives on in Italian pala.[8]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus has it for spades sold with forks.[3][6]
  • 234–149 BC – Cato lists spades among farm equipment and uses it for the baker's peel.[5][7][6]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro derives it from pangō.[5][4][6]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it for the bezel of a ring.[3][6]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy has palae innixus, “leaning on a spade”.[5][8][6]
  • c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian uses it for a winnowing shovel.[5][7][6]
  • 5th century AD – Caelius Aurelianus uses it for the shoulder blade.[5][7][6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A long-handled spade with a pointed blade; a shovel.[3][5][7]
  2. A baker's peel, for putting bread into the oven.[5][7]
  3. A winnowing shovel.[5][7][8]
  4. The bezel of a ring, in which the stone is set.[3][5][7]
  5. (Late Latin, medicine) The shoulder blade.[5][7][8]
  6. (Medieval Latin) A fire rake.[9]
  7. (Medieval Latin, anatomy) A muscle of the back.[9]

Word family

  • bipālium

Usage notes

The OLD has a separate rare word pāla for an Indian tree resembling a palm, applied to the banana in its one quotation, from Pliny the Elder;[3][5][8] the OLD takes it as a rendering of Sanskrit tāla, and the TLL calls it apparently foreign.[3][4]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  8. ^ a b c d e f g Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  9. ^ a b c Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press