palus

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈpaː.ɫʊs]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈpaː.lus]^[1]

Forms

pālus m (genitive pālī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *pākslo-, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂ǵ-slo-, from the root *peh₂ǵ- “to fasten, fix” of pangō “to fix, drive in”.^[1][2] The cluster was simplified with a long vowel, while the diminutive paxillus “peg” keeps the /ks/.^[1][3] Cognate with Ancient Greek πάσσαλος (pássalos, “peg”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Plautus, who has a slave beat his breast as if with a stake and a soldier who is not fit to drive a peg into a wall.^[4][2] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^[4]

Semantic evolution

It was a length of unsplit wood, a post or stake, used for propping vines, as Cato prescribes dry stakes, for fences, and for tying up a man to be flogged, ad pālum adligāre in Cicero.^[2][5] It was also a wooden peg or pin, and the post at which recruits practised sword strokes.^[2][5]

It survives in every Romance language, as Italian palo, French pal, Old French pieu and Romanian par.^[6][1] English pale “stake, fence of stakes” was borrowed from French and Latin in the early 13th century, the source of “beyond the pale”, and Gallo-Roman *palīcea gave English palisade through Provençal and French about 1600.^[7][4]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus speaks of a stake and of a peg in a wall.^[2][4]
• 234–149 BC – Cato prescribes stakes for vines.^[2][4]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero speaks of tying a man to a stake.^[5][4]
• early 13th century – English pale “stake” is recorded.^[7]
• c. 1600 – English palisade is recorded.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A post, stake (of unsplit wood).^[2]
2. A wooden peg or pin.^[2]
3. The post used for sword practice; the stake at which offenders were tied.^[5]

Related words

• pangō
• paxillus
• English pale
• English palisade

Usage notes

Palūs, palūdis (with short a), feminine, is a different word, “marsh, swamp”, inherited from Proto-Italic *palūd-, whose origin is uncertain; de Vaan doubts the link with pallēre “to be pale”.^[8][2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
6. ^ Buchi, Éva; Schweickard, Wolfgang, eds. (2008–), Dictionnaire Étymologique Roman (DÉRom), Nancy: ATILF, http://www.atilf.fr/DERom
7. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill