polka French · revision 15700

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=borrowing|attested=1842|origins=cs polka}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /pɔl.ka/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''polka''' ''f'' (plural polkas)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is probably [[bor|cs|polka]], through German.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary) The dance came from Bohemia; it was known in Prague in 1835, in Vienna in 1839, in Paris in 1840 and in London in 1842.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) The Czech word is either an alteration of [[m|cs|půlka|t=half; half-step]], from the short steps of the dance,^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse) or the noun “Polka” “Polish woman”, used out of sympathy for the oppressed Poles.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(FEW|20, 43b)

+

+ The GLLF and the Grand Robert make it a Polish word instead, from [[pl|polska|t=a kind of dance]], from [[m|pl|polski|t=Polish]].^(GLLF 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Rozier dates the arrival of the polka in Paris dance halls to 1842;^(TLFi)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) the TLFi's first quotation is from Balzac (1844), for the dance.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The lively two-step dance was a craze in the middle of the 19th century and led dancing masters to launch the mazurka and the redowa.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) The verb ''polker'' “to dance the polka” is from 1844–1845, and in 1850 a ''polka'' was also a dandy.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(BHVF)

+

+ For reasons unknown, ''pain polka'' (1881) is a flat loaf with a crust scored in squares or lozenges.^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi) The word also named a stone-cutter's pick (1876) and a small wheelbarrow in mushroom quarries (1907), perhaps from the worker's movements.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) In slang, before 1930, a ''polka'' was a gangster's girlfriend.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1842 – The polka reaches Paris dance halls.^(TLFi)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+ * 1844 – The dance (Balzac); ''polquer'', later ''polker''.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1850 – ''Un polka'', a dandy.^(BHVF)

+ * 1876 – A stone-cutter's pick.^(TLFi)

+ * 1878 – First recorded by the Académie.^(TLFi)

+ * 1881 – ''Pain polka''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1907 – A small wheelbarrow used in mushroom quarries.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|polka]], a lively round [[m|en|dance]] in two-four time, danced in couples.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # The music for this dance.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+

+ ===Adjective===

+ # ''Pain polka'': a flattened loaf with a crust scored in a [[m|en|lattice]] pattern.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[polker]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[mazurka]]

+ * [[en|polka]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}