palma

Forms

palma f (plural palmas)^[1] Houaiss has the plural pallmas “palms of the hands” in the 14th century.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin palma (“palm of the hand; palm tree”), written Old Galician-Portuguese palma in the oldest texts.^[2][3][1] The same Latin word is Galician palma, Spanish palma, Catalan palma, Italian palma, Romanian palmă and French paume “palm of the hand”.^[4][1] Its doublet is palmo, the span of a hand, which continues the related Latin noun palmus.^[1][4]

In Latin the palm tree and its leaf were named after the open hand.^[5][6] Latin also used the word for the palm branch given to victors, and so for victory itself.^[2] For the botanical sense Houaiss also points to the family name Palmae (1789), and Aurélio takes the senses “palm tree, palm leaf” from it.^[2][7]

De Vaan traces the Latin noun to Proto-Indo-European *pl̥h₂meh₂ (“flat of the hand”), from a root meaning “flat, wide”, and compares Ancient Greek παλάμη (palámē, “palm of the hand”), Old Irish lám (“hand”) and Old English folm (“hand”).^[8][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Cantigas de Santa Maria speak of un ramo de palma, “a palm branch”, and Houaiss dates the botanical sense to the 13th century.^[9][2] In the Miragres de Santiago an angel gives a palm in remembrance of a victory over all that displeases God, and the same text uses palma for the palm of the hand.^[9]

Semantic evolution

Houaiss dates the senses “palm of the hand” and “triumph” to the 14th century, and the Crónica Troiana describes figures with their arms stretched out and their palms open.^[2][9] Cardoso's dictionary of 1562 glosses the word only as the hand.^[10] Pereira (1697) gives “victory”, and Bluteau (1712) describes the palm tree at length.^[11][12]

Morais (1813) records levar a palma “to win”, tocar palmas or bater as palmas “to applaud”, and a part of a horse's hoof.^[13] The plural palmas became the ordinary word for clapping and applause.^[1][14] In north-eastern Brazil palma is also a cactus, the palmatória.^[14]

Timeline

• 13th century – un ramo de palma in the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[9][2]
• 14th century – the senses “palm of the hand” and “triumph”.^[2]
• c. 1400 – palma in a fragment of the Flos Sanctorum (copied 1380–1425).^[15]
• 1562 – Cardoso glosses Palma as the hand.^[10]
• 1697 – Pereira glosses it as “victory”.^[11]
• 1813 – Morais records levar a palma and bater as palmas.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. The palm of the hand, the inner side between the wrist and the fingers.^[2][7][1]
2. (usually in the plural) A clap of the hands; applause: A plateia bateu palmas.^[2][14][1]
3. (music) Rhythmic clapping that accompanies a song.^[14]
4. A leaf or branch of a palm tree (palmeira).^[16][1]
5. A palm tree.^[16][1]
6. (figurative) victory, triumph.^[7][16]
7. A badge of honour in the shape of a palm leaf.^[17]
8. The part of a horse's hoof (casco) that rests on the shoe.^[7][18]

Word family

• palmada
• palmeira
• empalmar
• espalmar
• espalmado

Related words

• palmo
• Latin palma

Usage notes

Fixed phrases include conhecer como a palma da mão “to know like the back of one's hand” and levar a palma “to carry off the prize”.^[7] In Rio Grande do Sul trazer na palma da mão means to treat someone very well.^[18]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. palma
3. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. palma
4. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. palma
5. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. palma
6. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 334
7. ^ a b c d e Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. palma
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. ^ a b c d Instituto da Lingua Galega, Dicionario de dicionarios do galego medieval (DDGM), ed. Ernesto González Seoane, Santiago de Compostela: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, https://ilg.usc.gal/ddgm, p. s.v. palma
10. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1562), Dictionarium juventuti studiosae admodum frugiferum, Coimbra: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. palma
11. ^ a b Pereira, Bento (1697), Thesouro da lingoa portuguesa, in the 1697 edition of his Prosodia (1st ed. 1647; CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. palma
12. ^ Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. palma
13. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 387
14. ^ a b c d Aulete, Francisco Júlio Caldas, Dicionário contemporâneo da língua portuguesa (1st ed. 1881), online as Aulete Digital, Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, https://aulete.com.br, p. s.v. palma
15. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. palma
16. ^ a b c Michaelis: Moderno Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, São Paulo: Melhoramentos (online as Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa, https://michaelis.uol.com.br), p. s.v. palma
17. ^ Academia das Ciências de Lisboa, Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, revised online edition (2023–) of the Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa Contemporânea (2001), https://dicionario.acad-ciencias.pt, p. s.v. palma
18. ^ a b Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. s.v. palma