| Language | Lexeme | Native script | Phonetic | Phonemic | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 97 | Russian | papka | палка | ˈpɑ̈ɫkɐ | ˈpalka | |
| 85 | Slovene | palica | ˈpɑ̈̀ːlitsɑ̈ | ˈpàːlitsa | ||
| 78 | Old Church Slavonic | palica | палица | pɑlitsʲa | palitsa | There are quite many alternative lexemes: 'жрьдь, посоха, дрьколь, дрѫгъ, жьзлъ'. However, some of them are pretty rare attested in the Canon ('дрѫгъ' and 'посоха' appear only once). Farther, they all are attested in more specific meanings like 'club, bar, sceptre'. 'палица' seems to be the best lexeme for the Swadesh term. |
| 99 | Ukrainian | palicâ | палиця | ˈpɑ̈ɫɪtsʲɐ | ˈpalɪtsʲa | An alternative lexeme is 'кий', which has, however, a restricted usage and more specialized meaning in the contemporary language. |
| 91 | Slovak | palica | ˈpɑ̈litsɑ̈ | ˈpalitsa | ||
| 98 | Belarusian | palka | палка | ˈpɑ̈ɫkɑ̈ | ˈpalka | |
| 100 | Rusyn | pálɪc′a | ˈpɑ̈lɪtsʲɑ̈ | ˈpalɪtsʲa | There are many synonyms: 'pʹalka' (with the same root), 'kọštúr', 'buk' and 'kopáč'. | |
| 86 | Slovene: Kostel | palica | ˈpɑ̈ːlʲtsɑ̈ | ˈpaːʎtsa | ||
| 84 | Slovene: Early Modern | paliza |
PS *pala (along with *palica, *palŭka, *palĭ) has some possible explanations. Most probably it is related to PS palĭcĭ 'thick finger'. I has been also explainded as derived from PIE *(s)p(ʰ)el- 'chop, bang' or compared to *paliti 'burn'.
PS *pala 'thick stick' (with diminutives *palŭka and *palica) is probably derived from PIE *pōlo- 'thick', see also palec ['finger' < 'thoe, thumb']. Cf. Latin pollex 'thumb', polleō, pollēre 'be strong'.<br> Polish pal 'pole' is a loanword from Middle High German pfâl.
S.v. Proto-Slavic *palica 'stick, staff' "The obvious connection with forms containing a root *pol- (e.g. *polìca) forces us to reconstruct a lengthened grade *pōl- for *palica. This is not in agreement with the accentual evidence, however. The etymology of the root is unclear."
The etymology of PS *palica is not entirely clear.<br> It can be related to pálit 'bounce' that is related to Latin pellere 'drive away, kill, beat' and maybe also to Old Indich sphāláyati 'clash, beat'. Then it would be derived from PIE *(s)pel- 'beat'. In Slavic, it has been contaminated with pálit 'glow, burn'. It is also possible that both verbs have a common origin.<br> Another hypothesis links PS *palica to PS *paliti 'glow, burn' (derived from PIE *pel-/*pol-). The semantic motivatition were that sticks as tools were seared over the fire to get durable.<br> If the meaning of PS *palica was originally 'thick stick', it could be also compared with PS *palŭ that is derived from PIE *pōlo- 'thick', cf. palec ['toe, thumb'].
Russian palka (along with Serbo-Croat palica, Slovene palica, Polish pałka etc.) is most probably not a loanword from Old High German pfâl 'pal' (which is, in turn, a borrowing from Latin pāllus). It is maybe related to Old High German spaltan 'split', Old Indic spháṭati 'split', spuṭáti 'tear' etc. It is also rather unrelated to palec ['finger'].<br> Russian palec ['finger'] (cf. also Polish palec, Czech palec, Upper Sorbian palc etc.) is derived from PS *palŭ (cf. Russian bespalyj, šestipalyj). It is usually linked to Latin pollex 'thumb, big toe'. It can be further related to New Persian pālidan 'look for' and Old High German fuolen 'feel'.<br> [Cf. also for a summary of other hypotheses.]
"The alleged connection with CS palьcь [...] < PSl. *palьcь < *pōl- does not explain Latin pollex. Meier-Brügger 1990 proposes to explain pollex from *por-likʰ-s 'which is licked over' to the root *leiɡ́ʰ- 'to lick' (see Lat. linɡō)."
