Page:An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language.djvu/291

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Du. vb.; allied to the equiv. E. to piss, Fr. pisser (Ital. pisciare), The origin of this now widely diffused term cannot be easily determined.

placken, vb., ‘to plague,’ ModHG. only, intensive form of plagen.

Placken, m., ‘patch, piece,’ from MidHG. placke, m., ‘spot, place, district’; comp. Du. plak, ‘spot, blot,’ E. dial. platch (variant of patch). From these G. words, the origin of which is obscure (they can scarcely have originated in Lat. plaga), are derived Fr. plaque, placard, &c. Perhaps UpG. bletzen, ‘to patch,’ which has probably lost a guttural before the tz, is also connected with these cognates.

Plage, f., ‘plague, calamity,’ from MidHG. plâge, OHG. plâga, f., ‘divine punishment’; adopted on the introduction of Christianity during the OHG. period (comp. Pein) from Lat. plâga, ‘blow, thrust.’ From the same source the Rom. cognates, Ital. piaga, Fr. plaie, ‘wound’ (E. plague), are derived.

Plan, m., ‘plain, plan, project,’ from MidHG. plân, m. and f., ‘open space, plain’; from the equiv. Fr. plan.

Planke, f., ‘plank, board,’ from MidHG. planke, blanke, f., ‘thick board, plank, fortification’; corresponding to Du. and E. plank; borrowed in the MidHG. period from the equiv. Rom. and MidLat. planca; comp. Fr. planche, Ital. (Pied.) pianca.

plappern, vb., ModHG. only, an onomatopoetic form of a lost stem, blab, which is also indicated by the equiv. MidHG. blępzen, OHG. blabbiȥôn, ‘to blab, babble’; allied to ModHG. (dial) and Du. blaffen, ‘to bark, yelp,’ Alem. plapen, E. to blab.

plärren, vb., from the equiv. MidHG. blerren, blêren, ‘to cry, bleat’; an imitation of sound like Du. blaren, ‘to bleat,’ and E. to blare.

platt, adj., ‘flat, level, dull, downright’; in MidHG., only MidG. blatefuoȥ and platehuof, ‘flat foot, sole of the foot,’ are recorded. It is most closely connected with Du. (LG.) plat, ‘plat,’ which, like E. dial. plat-footed (i.e. flat-footed), is derived from Rom., Fr. plat, Ital. piatto. Their origin is ascribed to Gr. πλατύς. To this plätten (Du. pletten), ‘to flatten, iron (clothes),’ is allied, as well as Platte, f., ‘flat, dish’ (MidHG. blate, plate, signify only ‘covering for the breast, baldness’), formed from Du. plat, ‘flat,’ Fr. plat, E. plate.

Platteise, f., ‘plaice,’ formed from the

equiv. Du. pladijs (platdijs), which is based on MidLat. platessa; comp. E. plaice.

Platz (1.), m., ‘place, row, seat, situation,’ from MidHG. platz, m., ‘open space, place’; formed, like Du. plaats, from the Rom. cognates, Ital. piazza, Fr. and E. place, which are derived from Lat. platē̆a (Gr. πλατεῖα), ‘street.’ The word seems to have been borrowed towards the end of the 13th cent.

Platz (2.), m., ‘pancake, fritter’; MidHG. only in MidG. platzbęcke, ‘pastry cook’; allied to platt, or from Pol. placek, ‘flat cake’?. The word is also current in UpG.

platzen, vb., ‘to crash, burst,’ from MidHG. platzen, blatzen, ‘to fall with a noise, strike.’ This word and blesten, ‘to splash,’ are derived from an onomat. stem, blad. Platschen and plätschern, Du. plassen, ‘to plash’ (plasregen, equiv. to Platzregen), are intensive forms of platzen.

plaudern, vb., ‘to chatter, chat,’ from late MidHG. plûdern, a variant of blâderen, blôdern, ‘to rustle, roar’; a recent form in imitation of sound, like Lat. blaterare, ‘to babble’

Plinze, f., ‘coiled fritter or pancake’; ModHG. only, an East MidG. word of Slav. origin; comp. Russ. blin, blince, ‘flat, round cake.’

plötzlich, adv., ‘suddenly,’ from the equiv. late MidHG. plozlich (also earlier ModHG. plotz merely); allied to *plotz, ‘sudden blow.’ In UpG. the adv. is quite unknown.

Pluderhose, f., ‘wide breeches,’ first occurs in early ModHG.; origin uncertain.

plump, adj., ‘plump, unwieldy, coarse,’ ModHG. only, from LG. and Du. plomp, ‘thick, coarse, blunt’ hence in Swiss pflumpfig, with the HG. permutation); from Du. the word seems to have passed into E. and Scand. as plump. The term plump was orig. an imitation of sound.

Plunder, m., ‘trash, lumber, plunder,’ from late MidHG. plunder, blunder, m., ‘household furniture, clothes, linen,’ which is probably a LG. loan-word (MidLG. plunde, ‘clothing’). Hence plündern, ‘to plunder,’ lit. ‘to take away the household furniture’ (also Du. plunderen, ‘to plunder’).

Plüsch, m., ‘plush,’ ModHG. only, formed from tho equiv. Fr. peluche (Ital. peluzzo).

Pöbel, m., ‘populace, rabble,’ formed