planca

Latin

Etymology

Variant of palanca, phalanga.

Noun

planca f (genitive plancae); first declension (Late Latin)

1. slat, plank
   • c. 500 CE, Palladius, Opus agriculturae I.XXI:

     Boves nitidiores fient, si focum proxime habeant et lumen intendant. Octo pedes ad spatium standi singulis boum paribus abundant et in porrectione quindecim. Plancae roboreae subponantur stationibus equorum cum stramine, ut iacentibus molle sit, stantibus durum.

     The cattle is mannered better if they have the fire close and attain light. Eight feet of room for a pair of bovines if they stand and fifteen if they lie. Oak planks should be laid into the stables with straw, so the lying flanks have it soft and the standing hooves hard.

Declension

First-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	planca	plancae
Genitive	plancae	plancārum
Dative	plancae	plancīs
Accusative	plancam	plancās
Ablative	plancā	plancīs
Vocative	planca	plancae

Descendants

• Old French: planche, planke, planque
  • Anglo-Norman: planke (see there for further descendants)
  • French: planche (see there for further descendants)
  • Norman: plianche
• Portuguese: chanca, prancha (via French)
• Sicilian: chianca
• Spanish: plancha (via French)

References

• “planca”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• planca in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.