Etymologically
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палец

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Pronunciation

  • [ˈpalʲɪt͡s][1]

Forms

па́лец (pálec) m inan (genitive па́льца, nominative plural па́льцы, genitive plural па́льцев, relational adjective пальцево́й or па́льцевый or па́лечный, diminutive па́льчик)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old East Slavic пальць (palĭcĭ), from Proto-Slavic *palьcь (“thumb, finger”).[1][2][3] The word is formed from a Proto-Slavic *palъ with the suffix *-ьcь;[1] the simple noun survives in беспалый and шестипалый.[2][4] Related forms are Old Church Slavonic пальць (palĭcĭ), Ukrainian палець (palecʹ), Bulgarian палец (palec, “thumb”), Serbo-Croatian палац (palac), Slovene palec (“thumb”), Czech palec (“thumb”) and Polish palec (“finger”).[2][4] In most Slavic languages the word means the thumb, and the word for finger is the one that answers to Russian перст.[4]

It is usually compared with Latin pollex (“thumb, big toe”), whose ⟨ll⟩ is expressive; this follows Meillet and Ernout–Meillet,[2] and Chernykh thinks it the most probable comparison,[4] but Walde and Hofmann doubted it.[2][4] Shaposhnikov traces both to an Indo-European dialect word Proto-Indo-European *pōlik- (“thumb”), from a root *pōl- (“thick, big”).[5] Vasmer allows a further link with Bulgarian палам (palam, “I search”) and Old High German fuolen (“to feel”);[2] he rejects one with Latin palpō (“to stroke”) and probably with Ancient Greek παλάμη (palámē, “palm of the hand”), and finds a link with палка and палица doubtful.[2] Shaposhnikov gives a second view, in which the sense finger is secondary and the word first meant a peg or small stick, as in the Russian words for a stick and a club.[5] Trubachev adds that Moszyński connected the Slavic word, after Walde, Ernout–Meillet, Boisacq and Mladenov, with Ancient Greek ψάλλω (psállō, “to pluck a string, a bowstring”), pointing to the role of the thumb in drawing a bow.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The oldest record SlRJa gives is in the Primary Chronicle under the year 1066, in the Laurentian copy of 1377: a Byzantine official who poisoned a prince „дотиснувъся палцемь в чашю, бѣ бо имѣя под ногтемъ растворенье смртное” “pressed his finger into the cup, for he had a deadly poison under his nail”.[6] Chernykh finds the word from the 11th century and thinks it then meant the thumb, though Sreznevsky's examples are not clear on the point.[4] Trubachev cites Sokolova for the sense thumb in Old Russian texts.[2]

Semantic evolution

Old Russian had перст for a finger in general;[4][5] палец took over that sense in the 16th and 17th centuries and gradually pushed перст aside.[4][5] The old sense survives in SlRJa's records of the thumb: a 1665 text calls the low finger that does not bend towards the others „перстъ палецъ”.[6] Phrases sorted the fingers out: большой палецъ “thumb” in the Stoglav (1551, in a 17th-century copy) and меншой палецъ “little finger” in 1640.[6] The width of a thumb became a household measure of length in the 17th century; at the end of that century it also became a technical measure, the inch.[6] In mills the word named a cog of a wheel or a paddle of a water-wheel (1647, 1696),[6] and later a short rod in a machine.[7] Dal still records палец as a short stake set upright, and the dialects use палец for the thumb.[4][8]

The adjectives came late: пальцевый was first recorded in Nordstet's dictionary (1782) and пальчатый by Dal (1865); the nickname Безпалой “fingerless” is recorded from 1658.[4] Ozhegov lists many set phrases, among them смотреть сквозь пальцы “to turn a blind eye” and обвести вокруг пальца “to fool someone”.[7]

Timeline

  • 1377 – палцемь “with his finger” in the Laurentian copy of the Primary Chronicle, under the year 1066.[6]
  • 1551 – большей палецъ “the thumb” in the Stoglav (in a 17th-century copy).[6]
  • 1640 – меншой палецъ “the little finger”.[6]
  • 1647 – пальцы “wooden cogs” of a wheel.[6]
  • 1653 – палецъ of a bird's toe, in Arseny Sukhanov's Proskinitary.[6]
  • 1658 – the nickname Безпалой “fingerless”.[4]
  • 1696 – по палцу толщиною “a finger thick”, a measure.[6]
  • 1782 – пальцевый in Nordstet's dictionary.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A finger or toe: one of the movable end parts of the hand or foot, or of an animal's paw;[7][9][1] большой палец is the thumb or big toe.[7][9][1]
  2. The finger of a glove.[9]
  3. (technical) A pin: a round rod-shaped part in a machine or mechanism.[7][1]

Word family

  • пальчик
  • пальцевой
  • пальцевый
  • пальчатый
  • распальцовка
  • беспалый
  • шестипалый
  • Old East Slavic пальць (palĭcĭ)

Usage notes

Fixed phrases include пальцем не шевельнуть “not lift a finger”, знать как свои пять пальцев “to know like the back of one's hand” and высосать из пальца “to make up out of nothing”.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Vasmer, Max (1964–1973), Ètimologičeskij slovar' russkogo jazyka, transl. and suppl. by O. N. Trubačev, 4 vols., Moskva: Progress, p. 3, 191–192
  3. ^ Derksen, Rick (2008), Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 4, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 390
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Chernykh, P. Ya. (1993), Istoriko-ètimologičeskij slovar' sovremennogo russkogo jazyka [Историко-этимологический словарь современного русского языка], 2 vols., Moskva: Russkij jazyk, p. 1, s.v. палец
  5. ^ a b c d Shaposhnikov, A. K. (2010), Ètimologičeskij slovar' sovremennogo russkogo jazyka [Этимологический словарь современного русского языка], 2 vols., Moskva: Flinta / Nauka, p. 2, 105
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barkhudarov, S. G. et al. (eds.) (1975–), Slovar' russkogo jazyka XI–XVII vv. [Словарь русского языка XI–XVII вв.], vols. 1–31, Moskva: Nauka / Azbukovnik / Lexrus, p. 14, 132
  7. ^ a b c d e f Ozhegov, S. I.; Shvedova, N. Yu. (1997), Tolkovyj slovar' russkogo jazyka [Толковый словарь русского языка], 4th ed., Moskva: Azbukovnik, p. s.v. палец
  8. ^ Dal', V. I. (1880–1882), Tolkovyj slovar' živago velikorusskago jazyka [Толковый словарь живаго великорусскаго языка], 2nd ed., 4 vols., Sankt-Peterburg / Moskva: M. O. Vol'f, p. s.v. палец
  9. ^ a b c Evgen'eva, A. P. (ed.) (1981–1984), Slovar' russkogo jazyka v četyrex tomax [Словарь русского языка в 4 тт.] (MAS), 2nd ed., Moskva: Russkij jazyk, p. s.v. палец