plop

Forms

plop m (plural plopi)^[1] Regional variants are pleop, pliop, plomp, plot and plup.^[2] Pleop is western and occurs in Delavrancea's Hagi Tudose.^[3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *ploppus, a popular form of Latin pōpulus (“poplar”) with the /l/ moved forward (metathesis).^[5][3][6][1] Tiktin sets out the steps as *poplu and then *plopu.^[7] MDA2 gives the etymon simply as the classical Latin word.^[2] The Latin word has no etymology: de Vaan notes that Ancient Greek πτελέα (pteléa, “elm”) shares its /p/ and /l/, but no regular correspondence links them.^[8]

The word survives in Aromanian as plop and plup, and in Megleno-Romanian as plop.^[5][9][10] Candrea and Densusianu leave the Aromanian form with /u/ unexplained.^[9] The same metathesised form underlies Albanian plep, Italian pioppo (older chioppo), Catalan clop, Spanish chopo and Portuguese choupo, while Old French peuple, the source of French peuplier, continues the unchanged Latin form.^[5][11][12] Nocentini also traces most Romance forms, the Italian one among them, to the same metathesised starting form.^[13]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is first recorded in names: Tiktin cites the place name Plopești from 1429 and the personal name Plopescul from 1436, and gives 1468 for the common noun.^[7] A Transylvanian estate called Plop near Ilia, in Hunedoara, is recorded in 1468 and again in 1516 as Kys Ploopfalwa.^[14] In Romanian texts the tree appears in Mardarie's Slavonic–Romanian lexicon of 1649 and in the Bucharest Bible of 1688 (Isaiah 41:19).^[15][16] MDA2 dates the first record to Cantemir's Istoria ieroglifică (1704).^[2]

Semantic evolution

The word names the genus Populus as a whole and, in compounds, its species: plop alb “white poplar”, plop tremurător “aspen”, plop negru “black poplar” and plop piramidal “Lombardy poplar”, which is also called plută.^[2][6][17] In the 17th-century lexicons it glosses Slavonic words for several trees, not only the poplar.^[15] A proverbial phrase is când va face plopul mere și răchita micșunele “when the poplar bears apples and the willow violets”, that is, never.^[6][7] Mătușă de plop “poplar aunt” is a distant relative.^[6][18] In Moldova the word also names the wooden post under the eaves of a house.^[19]

The tree's name is common in Romanian place names and surnames, among them Plopescul, Plopești and Plopșor.^[20][7] Romanian derived plopiș and plopiște “poplar wood” and plopar, a beetle that lives on poplars (Saperda carcharias).^[5][9]

Timeline

• 1429 – the place name Plopești.^[7]
• 1436 – the personal name Plopescul.^[7]
• 1468 – the common noun; the same year the estate Plop in Hunedoara.^[7][14]
• 1649 – plop in Mardarie's Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[15]
• 1688 – plop in the Bucharest Bible.^[16]
• 1704 – plopul in Cantemir's Istoria ieroglifică.^[2]
• 1825 – plopu in the Lexicon of Buda, with pădure de plopi “poplar wood”.^[21]

Meanings

Noun

1. poplar: any of several tall trees of the genus Populus, with thin upward branches, smooth greyish bark, long-stalked leaves and flowers in catkins.^[6][2][1]
2. (regional, Moldova) A wooden post supporting the eaves of a house.^[19]

Word family

• plopiște
• plopar
• plopiș

Related words

• plută
• Aromanian plop
• Latin pōpulus

Usage notes

Plop is also listed by MDA2 as a regional variant of pleoapă “eyelid”, a separate word.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 425
3. ^ a b Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 118
4. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1000
5. ^ a b c d Ciorănescu, Alexandru (1958–1966), Diccionario etimológico rumano, La Laguna: Universidad de La Laguna (Romanian ed.: Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române, București: Saeculum, 2001), p. s.v. plop
6. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 834
7. ^ a b c d e f g Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. plop
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 Candrea, I.-A.; Densusianu, Ov. (1907–1914), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române: elementele latine (A–Putea), București
10. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 868
11. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 6655
12. ^ Wikționar (Romanian Wiktionary), ro.wiktionary.org
13. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
14. ^ a b Suciu, Coriolan (1966–1968), Dicționar istoric al localităților din Transilvania, I–II, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. 2, 391
15. ^ a b c Ungureanu, Mădălina; Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Moruz, Alexandru (eds.), eRomLex: The First Romanian Bilingual Dictionaries (17th century), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro
16. ^ a b Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Isaiah 41:19
17. ^ Panțu, Zach. C. (1929), Plantele cunoscute de poporul român. Vocabular botanic cuprinzând numirile române, franceze, germane și științifice, 2nd ed., București: Editura Casei Școalelor
18. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 3, 469
19. ^ a b Stati, Vasile (2003), Dicționar moldovenesc-românesc, Chișinău
20. ^ Constantinescu, N. A. (1963), Dicționar onomastic romînesc, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. s.v. plop
21. ^ Lesicon românescu-latinescu-ungurescu-nemțescu quare de mai mulți autori, în cursul a trideci și mai multor ani s-au lucrat (1825), Buda: Typographia Universității (the Lexicon of Buda, ed. Petru Maior et al.)