pulă

Forms

pulă f (plural pule or puli)^[1]

Etymology

It is probably inherited from Latin pulla (“hen, female chick”), the feminine of pullus (“young animal, chick”).^[2][3][4][1] Ciorănescu follows Crețu and Candrea and Densusianu here.^[2] For the shift from a bird to the male member he compares the Madrid slang word Spanish polla, Italian uccello “bird” and “penis”, and Bulgarian патка (patka) “duck” and “penis”.^[2] The Bulgarian etymological dictionary records the same sense of the Bulgarian word in the dialects around Sofia and Samokov.^[5] Papahagi also cites Candrea and Densusianu and the REW for this development, from “pullet” to “male member”.^[6]

The word survives south of the Danube: Aromanian pulã and Megleno-Romanian pulă.^[2][6] Wiktionary compares Dalmatian pula and Catalan polla.^[1]

Pușcariu, the REW and Pascu derived it instead from a Vulgar Latin *pūbula, formed on pūbes (“pubic hair, private parts”).^[2][7] Ciorănescu thinks this unlikely, after Tiktin and Graur, and calls Crețu's other proposal, Latin pūpula, fanciful.^[2] The Lexicon de la Buda of 1825 had linked the word with Latin pullulō.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is from 1629, a charter in which a man is named Stan Pulăroșie.^[4] He also lists the place names Pulați (1570) and Pulenii (1599).^[4] The Lexicon de la Buda of 1825 has the word with the sense “male member”, glossed with Latin penis and veretrum.^[8] MDA2 gives Tiktin's dictionary of 1903 as its first record.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The common sense is “penis”, and the dictionaries label it vulgar or trivial.^[2][3][9] MDA2 also records two obsolete senses, “rod, switch” and “tail”.^[3] Compound names use the word for animals and plants: pula ciobanului (“the shepherd's ~”) is the zingel and a goby, and pula calului (“the horse's ~”) a stinking fungus.^[3][4] In current slang it is also a term of abuse for a person, an adjective meaning “tough, great”, and a blunt “no”.^[1]

Ciorănescu lists the derivative pulărău “debauchee”, with the suffix of bătălău and fătălău.^[2] He suggests that Italian pollaco “pimp” may go back to the same Latin word.^[2]

Timeline

• 1570 – the place name Pulați, listed by Tiktin.^[4]
• 1599 – the place name Pulenii.^[4]
• 1629 – the personal name Stan Pulăroșie in a charter, Tiktin's first record of the word.^[4]
• 1825 – pulă “male member” in the Lexicon de la Buda.^[8]
• 1903 – the first volume of Tiktin's dictionary, MDA2's first record.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (vulgar) The penis.^[3][2][9][1]
2. (vulgar, derogatory) A worthless or contemptible man, a nobody: pulă bleagă “a spineless nobody”.^[3][1]
3. (obsolete) A rod or switch.^[3]
4. (obsolete) A tail.^[3]
5. (ichthyology) In pula ciobanului: the zingel (Aspro zingel), also a goby (Gobius kessleri).^[3][4]
6. (botany) In pula calului: a stinking fungus (Ithyphallus impudicus).^[3]

Adjective

1. (vulgar, slang, indeclinable) Tough, badass.^[1]

Adverb

1. (vulgar) A blunt refusal: no way.^[1]

Word family

• pulărău

Related words

• pui
• Aromanian pulã
• Latin pullus

Usage notes

MDA2 records several vulgar set phrases built on the word, most of them expressing frustration or indifference, such as ce pula mea?.^[3] The plural is pule, and Wiktionary also gives puli.^[3][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. pulă
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 594
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. pulă
5. ^ Georgiev, Vladimir I. et al. (eds.) (1971–), Bălgarski etimologičen rečnik, Sofija: Izdatelstvo na Bălgarskata akademija na naukite, p. 5, 94
6. ^ a b Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 891
7. ^ Pascu, Giorge (1925), Dictionnaire étymologique macédoroumain, 2 vols. (I: Les éléments latins et romans; II: Les éléments grecs, turcs, slaves, albanais, germaniques, magyars, néologismes, créations immédiates, obscurs), Iași: Cultura Națională, p. 1, 147
8. ^ a b c 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. 559
9. ^ a b Volceanov, George (2007), Dicționar de argou al limbii române, București: Niculescu, p. s.v. pulă