poală

Forms

poală f (plural poale)^[1] MDA2 records the regional variant polă.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old Church Slavonic пола (pola, “half; skirt of a garment”).^[2][3][4][5] In the Codex Suprasliensis the Slavonic word is used of the two halves of a robe held together.^[6] The DLR and Wiktionary give the source as the masculine полъ (polŭ), DER as a word meaning “middle, edge, bosom”;^[7][8][1] Wiktionary takes it from Proto-Slavic *polъ.^[7][8][1] The feminine is either the same word narrowed from “half of a garment” to “skirt”, or a derivative of *polti (“to twine, to wind”).^[1]

The word is shared with the other Slavic languages: Bulgarian пола́ (polá), Serbo-Croatian pola, Russian пола́ (polá) and Polish poła.^[8][1] It is also found south of the Danube: Aromanian poalã and Megleno-Romanian poală.^{[8][9][10][5]} DER calls it a doublet of pol.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki of the early 16th century, as poala in Psalm 128.^[11] Tiktin's first record is the same verse in the Psaltirea Scheiană, and MDA2's is Coresi's Gospel book of 1560–1561, where a woman touched „poalele veșmintelor lui” “the hem of his garments”.^[4][2][7]

Semantic evolution

The first sense was the lower part or hem of a garment.^[7][2] The lap of a seated person, the fold of a skirt or apron held up to carry things and the amount carried in it developed from it.^[7][3] Coresi has Lazarus carried by the angels „la poala lui Avram” “into Abraham's bosom”, where the Bible of 1688 has sân.^[4] A document of 1650 has the gesture of submission „Am plecat capul la poala dumnealui” “I bowed my head at his hem”, the source of the phrase la poala cuiva “at someone's feet, at someone's mercy”.^[4][3] The Lexicon de la Buda (1825) has the loins, the apron, the hem and poala muntelui “the foot of the mountain”.^[12]

By analogy the word came to name the lower edge of a forest, the edge of the sky at the horizon, the foothills of a mountain, the base of a wall and the lower part of a tree's crown.^[3] In the church it names the embroidered cloth that adorns an icon or covers the altar table.^[3][8] In plant names it gives poala-Maicii-Domnului “bindweed” and poala-Sfintei-Mării (Nepeta nuda), and poală albă is a folk name for leucorrhoea.^[3][13] Regionally it names the lowest tobacco leaves, picked first, in Muntenia, and a low outer passage of a peasant house in the Banat.^[14][15]

Timeline

• c. 1500–1520 – poala in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki.^[11]
• 1560–1561 – poalele veșmintelor “the hem of the garments” in Coresi's Gospel book.^[2][7]
• 1573–1578 – poala in the Psaltirea Scheiană.^[4][11]
• 1649 – poalele in Mardarie's Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[16]
• 1650 – la poala as a gesture of submission in a document.^[4]
• 1688 – poală and poalele in the Bucharest Bible.^[17]
• 1825 – poala muntelui “the foot of the mountain” in the Lexicon de la Buda.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. The lower part of a woman's garment or of clothing that buttons at the front; a hem;^[3][2] (popular) a peasant skirt.^[3][2]
2. The lap of a seated person, with the clothes over it; the front of a skirt or apron held up to carry things, and the amount it holds: o poală de mere “an apronful of apples”.^[3]
3. (in the plural) An embroidered cloth that adorns an icon or covers the altar table.^[3]
4. The edge of a hide, which covered the belly and legs of the animal.^[3]
5. The lower edge of a forest; the part of the sky along the horizon.^[3]
6. (in the plural) The foothills of a mountain or hill: la poalele muntelui “at the foot of the mountain”; the base of a building or wall; the lower part of a tree's crown.^[3][18]

Word family

• împolat
• pulpană

Related words

• pol
• Aromanian poalã

Usage notes

Common phrases are la poala cuiva “at someone's feet, at someone's mercy”, a se ține de poala mamei “to cling to one's mother's skirts” and a-l trage copiii de poale “to have small children to care for”.^[3][19] In the botanical compounds poala-rândunicii and poala-Maicii-Domnului name bindweed.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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, 432
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 837
4. ^ a b c d e f Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. poală
5. ^ a b Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 227
6. ^ Kurz, Josef; Hauptová, Zoe (eds.) (1958–1997), Slovník jazyka staroslověnského / Lexicon linguae palaeoslovenicae, 4 vols. + supplements, Praha: Academia; digital ed. gorazd.org
7. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. poală
8. ^ a b c d e f 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. poală
9. ^ Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 842
10. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 870
11. ^ a b c Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Ungureanu, Mădălina; Moruz, Alexandru et al., roPsalt: Re-evaluating the Sixteenth Century Romanian Psalters (aligned corpus), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. Ps 128:6
12. ^ a b 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.), p. 520
13. ^ Costinescu, Ion (1870), Vocabularu romano-francesu, 2 vols., Bucuresci, p. 2, 310
14. ^ Marin, Maria; Mărgărit, Iulia, Glosar dialectal. Muntenia, București: Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti”, p. 330
15. ^ Costin, Lucian (1926–1934), Graiul bănățean, 2 vols., Timișoara / Turnu-Severin, p. 154
16. ^ Ungureanu, Mădălina; Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Moruz, Alexandru (eds.), eRomLex: The First Romanian Bilingual Dictionaries (17th century), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. s.v. poalele
17. ^ Biblia, adecă Dumnezeiasca Scriptură a ceii vechi și a ceii noao leage, București, 1688 (ed. 1988, tricentennial edition), p. Exodus 39:24
18. ^ Breban, Vasile (1980), Dicționar al limbii române contemporane de uz curent, București: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, p. 448
19. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. poală