Etymologically
Log in

план

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 31 October 2026 at 17:34. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

Forms

план (plan) m inan (genitive пла́на, nominative plural пла́ны, genitive plural пла́нов, relational adjective пла́новый)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French plan, taken in Peter the Great's time.[2][3] Vasmer first finds it in Peter I's writings in 1704.[4] The sources disagree about the path.[4][5] Vasmer thinks it may have come through Polish plan or German Plan,[4] Shaposhnikov takes it from Dutch plan or from the German word, both from French,[5] Shansky and Bobrova take it from the German word only,[6] and Tsyganenko takes it straight from French.[3] Epishkin gives the sense “drawing” as French through German.[7]

The origin of the French word is disputed too.[4][8] Vasmer, Shansky and Kluge trace it to Latin planta (“sole of the foot”), so that a plan was first a ground plan.[4][9][6] Chernykh, Shaposhnikov and Tsyganenko derive it from plānum (“plane, level ground”), the noun use of plānus (“flat, level”).[8][5][3] Wiktionary allows both, deriving the French noun from an earlier plant, from planter, or from the Latin adjective.[1] In French the word meant “drawing of a future building” from 1558 and “detailed plan of action” from 1600.[5]

Early Russian also had the variant плян (1713) and the popular form плант, whence Smolensk плантовать (“to think out, plan”).[8][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Epishkin cites records of 1703 for the sense “drawing” and of 1711 for “intention”, with the variants плян (1708, 1712), плана (1709) and плант (1719).[7] Vasmer and Shaposhnikov give 1704, in Peter I's writings.[4][5] In 1713 Prince Kurakin reported that the French had sent a courier „с последним пляном, который подан от статов” “with the latest plan submitted by the States”.[7][8]

Semantic evolution

The first Russian senses were the drawing of a building, a fortress or an estate, and an intention or scheme: a 1729 book on British architecture has „планы и элевации, и профили” “plans, elevations and sections”.[7][5] The first dictionary to record it is Nordstet's of 1782, and the adjective плановый is recorded in dictionaries from 1847.[7][5]

Painting and the theatre added the plane of a picture or stage seen in perspective: Dal describes the first, second and third план of a picture as imaginary vertical planes at different depths.[10] Film added крупный план “close-up”, and the figurative sense “position, importance” grew from this: на первом плане “in the foreground, of first importance”.[11] The 18th century also used план for a painted shield for illuminations and fireworks.[7] The Soviet period made it a system of production targets set for a fixed term.[12]

In many regional dialects, from the Kuban to the north-west and Siberia, план means a household's plot of land or homestead.[13]

Timeline

  • 1703 – план “drawing”, the first record Epishkin cites.[7]
  • 1704 – план in the writings of Peter I.[4][5]
  • 1711 – the sense “intention, scheme”.[7]
  • 1713 – плян in Prince Kurakin's papers.[8][7]
  • 1719 – the variant плант.[7]
  • 1782 – first dictionary record, in Nordstet's dictionary.[7]
  • 1847 – the adjective плановый in a dictionary.[5][8]
  • 1900 – the regional sense “plot of land” in the Kuban.[13]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A drawing or map showing an area, a building or an object on a plane, to scale.[14][15]
  2. A system of work fixed in advance, with its order and deadlines; an economic or production target: выполнить план “to fulfil the plan”.[14][12][1]
  3. An intention, a scheme: планы на лето “plans for the summer”.[14][15]
  4. The arrangement of the parts of something; an outline of a text.[14][16]
  5. The position of something in perspective, by its distance from the viewer; in film, the scale of a shot: крупный план “close-up”.[11][1]
  6. (figurative) A sphere or aspect, a point of view: в этом плане “in this respect”.[11]

Word family

  • плановый
  • планировать
  • планировка
  • планомерный
  • планёрка
  • запланировать
  • спланировать
  • промфинплан

Usage notes

План is also slang for a drug smoked from plants, usually hashish.[7][17] Epishkin treats it as a separate borrowing from French plante (“plant”), quoting Vysotsky in 1964;[7] Elistratov suggests it may come from drug users' or criminal slang (compare планокиша “hashish smoker”) or from the ordinary word.[17]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ Shansky, N. M.; Ivanov, V. V.; Shanskaya, T. V. (1975), Kratkij ètimologičeskij slovar' russkogo jazyka [Краткий этимологический словарь русского языка], 3rd ed., Moskva: Prosveščenie, p. s.v. план
  3. ^ a b c Tsyganenko, G. P. (1989), Ètimologičeskij slovar' russkogo jazyka [Этимологический словарь русского языка], 2nd ed., Kiev: Radjans'ka škola, p. s.v. план
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Vasmer, Max (1964–1973), Ètimologičeskij slovar' russkogo jazyka, transl. and suppl. by O. N. Trubačev, 4 vols., Moskva: Progress, p. 3, 273
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Shaposhnikov, A. K. (2010), Ètimologičeskij slovar' sovremennogo russkogo jazyka [Этимологический словарь современного русского языка], 2 vols., Moskva: Flinta / Nauka, p. 2, 133
  6. ^ a b Shansky, N. M.; Bobrova, T. A. (2004), Škol'nyj ètimologičeskij slovar' russkogo jazyka [Школьный этимологический словарь русского языка], 7th ed., Moskva: Drofa, p. s.v. план
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Epishkin, N. I. (2010), Istoričeskij slovar' gallicizmov russkogo jazyka [Исторический словарь галлицизмов русского языка], Moskva: ÈTS, p. s.v. план
  8. ^ a b c d e f Chernykh, P. Ya. (1993), Istoriko-ètimologičeskij slovar' sovremennogo russkogo jazyka [Историко-этимологический словарь современного русского языка], 2 vols., Moskva: Russkij jazyk, p. 2, s.v. план
  9. ^ Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 709
  10. ^ 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. план
  11. ^ a b c Tameryan, T. Yu., Istoriko-ètimologičeskij slovar' latinskix zaimstvovanij [Историко-этимологический словарь латинских заимствований], Vladikavkaz (electronic edition 2015), p. s.v. план
  12. ^ a b Ushakov, D. N. (ed.) (1935–1940), Tolkovyj slovar' russkogo jazyka [Толковый словарь русского языка], 4 vols., Moskva: Sovetskaja ènciklopedija / OGIZ, p. s.v. план
  13. ^ a b Filin, F. P.; Sorokoletov, F. P.; Myznikov, S. A. (eds.) (1965–), Slovar' russkix narodnyx govorov [Словарь русских народных говоров], vols. 1–51, Moskva / Leningrad / Sankt-Peterburg: Nauka, p. 27, 79
  14. ^ a b c d Ozhegov, S. I.; Shvedova, N. Yu. (1997), Tolkovyj slovar' russkogo jazyka [Толковый словарь русского языка], 4th ed., Moskva: Azbukovnik, p. s.v. план
  15. ^ a b 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. план
  16. ^ Efremova, T. F. (2000), Novyj slovar' russkogo jazyka. Tolkovo-slovoobrazovatel'nyj [Новый словарь русского языка. Толково-словообразовательный], 2 vols., Moskva: Russkij jazyk, p. s.v. план
  17. ^ a b Elistratov, V. S. (2000), Slovar' russkogo argo [Словарь русского арго], Moskva: Russkie slovari, p. s.v. план