fala

Asturian

Etymology

From Latin fābula.

Noun

fala f (plural fales)

1. speaking, speech

Related terms

• falar

Verb

fala

1. third-person singular present indicative of falar
2. second-person singular imperative of falar

Fala

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfala/

Etymology 1

From Old Galician-Portuguese fala, from Latin fābula (“discourse; narrative”).

Noun

fala f (countable and uncountable, plural falas)

1. (uncountable, with definite article) Fala (Romance language of northwestern Extremadura)
   • 2000, Domingo Frades Gaspar, Vamus a falal: Notas pâ coñocel y platical en nosa fala, Editora regional da Extremadura, Theme IV, Chapter 2: O “Oiru” i o “Moiru” do diptongu “au” latinu:

     É algu que poi dal traballu a os estudiosus da fala, […]

     It is something which may be complicated for Fala scholars,

2. (countable) a language or language variant, especially a minority or regional one
   • 2000, Domingo Frades Gaspar, Vamus a falal: Notas pâ coñocel y platical en nosa fala, Editora regional da Extremadura, Theme I, Chapter 2: Númerus?:

     As lenguas, idiomas, dialectus o falas tenin un-as funciós mui claras desde o principiu dos siglu i si hai contabilizaus en o mundu un-as 8.000 lenguas, ca un-a con sua importancia numérica relativa, a nossa fala é un tesoiru mais entre elas.

     The tongues, languages or regional variants have some very clear functions since the beginning of the centuries and some 8,000 languages have been accounted for in the world, each with its relative numerical importance, our Fala is another treasure among them.

Related terms

Etymology 2

Verb

fala

1. third-person singular present indicative of falal (“to speak”)
2. second-person singular imperative of falal (“to speak”)

References

• Valeš, Miroslav (2021) Diccionariu de A Fala: lagarteiru, mañegu, valverdeñu (web)‎, 2nd edition, Minde, Portugal: CIDLeS, published 2022, →ISBN

Galician

Etymology

From Old Galician-Portuguese fala (13th century, Cantigas de Santa Maria), from Latin fābula (“discourse; narrative”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfala̝/

Noun

fala m (plural falas)

1. voice, speech (faculty of speech)
   • 1370, Ramón Lorenzo (ed.), Cronica troiana. A Coruña: Fundación "Pedro Barrié de la Maza, Conde de Fenosa", page 567:

     Ata meodía nõ cobrou sua fala, nẽ seu entendemento.

     Till noon he didn't recover his voice nor his mind

   • 1779, Diego Antonio Cernadas, Obras en Prosa y Verso, Madrid, page 315:

     Co o desexo de acordarvos, que en Galicia o seu funduxe ten a vosa nobre fruxe, vou en Gallego a falarvos: De esto non hai que estrañarvos; antes ben, facendo gala de esta nación, estimá-la, e si porque moito dista, non a conocés de vista, conocedea pola fala

     With the desire to make you remember that in Galicia your noble lineage has its foundation, I'm gonna speak to you in Galician: no need to wonder for this; rather, taking pride of this nation, to love it, and if because of the distance, you don't know it by sight, let's you know it by its speech.

2. a language, a dialect or a sociolect
   • 1859, José Domínguez d'Esquerdo, Entonces e agora ou Coroas e cadeas do fidalgo povo galicián:

     deprende a fala francesa, ingresa ou italián, e non construie a galícea, encolle o lombo, cand'ouce falare do país en que nasceu!

     he learns the French, the English or the Italian languages, but can't elaborate in Galician, he flinches when he hears about the country where he was born!

3. Galego, Galician language
   • 1917, anonymous author, A Nosa Terra, number 7:

     Fai pouco tempo, e ben pouco por nosa indiferenza, qu'un feixe d'homes de vontade de ferro, axuntaronse, formando a santa e nobre Irmandade da Fala.

     Sometime ago, a very short time ago because of our indifference, a handful of men with an iron will, joining together, founded the holy and noble Brotherhood of the Fala.

4. Fala (Galician-Portuguese language of northwestern Extremadura, in Spain)
5. word, tale
6. speech, expression

Related terms

• falar

Verb

fala

1. inflection of falar:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

References

• “fala” in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval, SLI - ILGA 2006–2022.
• “fala” in Xavier Varela Barreiro & Xavier Gómez Guinovart: Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval. SLI / Grupo TALG / ILG, 2006–2018.
• “fala” in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega, SLI - ILGA 2006–2013.
• “fala” in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega. Santiago: ILG.
• “fala” in Álvarez, Rosario (coord.): Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués, Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega.

Guinea-Bissau Creole

Etymology

Inherited from Portuguese falar. Cognate with Kabuverdianu fala.

Verb

fala

1. to say
2. to speak
3. to talk

Hungarian

Etymology

fal (“wall”) +‎ -a (possessive suffix)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):
• Hyphenation: fa‧la

Noun

fala

1. third-person singular single-possession possessive of fal

Declension

Icelandic

Noun

fala

1. indefinite genitive plural of falur

Irish

Alternative forms

• fola

Etymology

From Middle Irish fola, apparently a specialized form of Old Irish folud (“goods and services owed in virtue of a contract”).

Pronunciation

• (Munster) IPA^(key): /ˈfˠɑl̪ˠə/
• (Aran) IPA^(key): /ˈfˠɑlə/
• (Cois Fharraige, Mayo, Ulster) IPA^(key): /ˈfˠalˠə/, /ˈfˠal̪ˠə/

Noun

fala f (genitive singular fala, nominative plural falta)

1. grudge, spite, resentment, feud

Declension

Derived terms

• ar eagla na fala thuas (“for fear of the wrath to come; to be morally on the safe side”)

Mutation

References

Further reading

• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “fala”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN
• Entries containing “fala” in English-Irish Dictionary, An Gúm, 1959, by Tomás de Bhaldraithe.

Italian

Etymology

From Latin fala, from Etruscan 𐌚𐌀𐌋𐌀 (fala).

Noun

fala f (plural fale)

1. a siege tower

Anagrams

• alfa

Kabuverdianu

Etymology

From Portuguese falar.

Verb

fala

1. speak

References

• Gonçalves, Manuel (2015) Capeverdean Creole-English dictionary, →ISBN

Latin

Alternative forms

• phala

Etymology

From Etruscan 𐌚𐌀𐌋𐌀 (fala).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈfa.la/,
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈfa.la/,

Noun

fala f (genitive falae); first declension

1. (military) a siege tower

Declension

First-declension noun.

Derived terms

• falārica

References

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

Malagasy

Etymology

From Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *palaq, from Proto-Austronesian *palaq.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fala/

Noun

fala

1. vagina, vulva

Old Galician-Portuguese

Etymology

From Latin fābula (“discourse, narrative”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfa.la/

Noun

fala f

1. discourse, narrative

Related terms

• falar

Descendants

• Fala: fala
• Galician: fala
• Portuguese: fala

Polish

Polish Wikipedia has an article on:

fala

Wikipedia ^pl

Etymology

Borrowed from German Welle. First attested in 1594. Displaced wełn.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfa.la/
• (Middle Polish) IPA^(key): /ˈfɒ.la/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ala
• Syllabification: fa‧la
• Homophone: Fala

Noun

fala f (related adjective falowy)

1. wave (rise in water caused by wind or underwater seismic movements)
2. wave, surge (intensification of some phenomena)
   1. (obsolete) surge, burst, flurry (sudden onset of precipitation)
3. wave, surge (very large number of people gathered in some place and constantly moving somewhere)

   Synonym: przypływ

   Fala turystów wracających z wakacji spowodowała korki na drogach. ― A wave of tourists returning from their holidays caused traffic jams on the roads.

4. wave, surge (sudden appearance of intense feelings and sensations)

   Synonyms: przypływ, (obsolete) przystęp

5. (physics) wave (moving disturbance in the energy level of a field)
6. wave; curl (hairstyle resembling a wave)

   Synonym: karb

7. bullying (teasing from a higher grade to a lower grade in school, etc.)
8. (military) time remaining until the end of military service
9. (military) soldiers from a singular draft
10. wave (moving disturbance, undulation)
11. (physics) wave (moving disturbance in a field)
12. wave (sudden, but temporary, uptick in something)

    Synonyms: nasilenie, przypływ

13. crowd, wave (large group of people)

    Synonym: przypływ

    Hypernym: tłum

Declension

Derived terms

Descendants

• → Belarusian: хва́ля (xválja)
• → Ukrainian: хви́ля (xvýlja)

Trivia

According to Słownik frekwencyjny polszczyzny współczesnej (1990), fala is one of the most used words in Polish, appearing 65 times in scientific texts, 16 times in news, 8 times in essays, 17 times in fiction, and 4 times in plays, each out of a corpus of 100,000 words, totaling 110 times, making it the 558th most common word in a corpus of 500,000 words.

References

Further reading

• fala in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• fala in Polish dictionaries at PWN
• Wiesław Morawski (29.11.2018) “FALA”, in Elektroniczny Słownik Języka Polskiego XVII i XVIII Wieku [Electronic Dictionary of the Polish Language of the XVII and XVIII Century]
• Samuel Bogumił Linde (1807–1814) “fala”, in Słownik języka polskiego‎
• Aleksander Zdanowicz (1861) “fala”, in Słownik języka polskiego, Wilno 1861‎
• J. Karłowicz, A. Kryński, W. Niedźwiedzki, editors (1900), “fala”, in Słownik języka polskiego‎ (in Polish), volume 1, Warsaw, page 713
• Template:R:pl:SgOWiM
• Bańkowski, Andrzej (2000) “fala”, in Etymologiczny słownik języka polskiego [Etymological Dictionary of the Polish Language] (in Polish)
• fala in Narodowy Fotokorpus Języka Polskiego

Portuguese

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -alɐ
• Homophone: fá-la
• Hyphenation: fa‧la

Etymology 1

From Old Galician-Portuguese fala, from Latin fābula (“discourse, narrative”). Compare fábula, a borrowed doublet.

Alternative forms

• falla (obsolete)

Noun

fala f (plural falas)

1. (uncountable) speech (the ability to speak; the state of not being mute)

   Antonyms: afonia, mudez

2. a speech, a discourse

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:conversa

   A fala da personagem

   The character's speech

   Justo na hora de sua apresentação, ele esqueceu sua fala.

   Right on time the for his presentation, he forgot his speech.

3. accent (the way someone speaks)

   Synonyms: dicção, linguajar, pronúncia, sotaque

   A fala dele é muito engraçada.

   His accent is very funny.

4. a dialect or regional variant of a language

   Synonyms: dialeto, variante

5. a line of dialogue in a screenplay or script

   Ele praticava sua fala, um tanto nervoso.

   He practiced his line, nervously.

6. (Brazil, informal) used to greet someone (equivalent to english sup)

   Fala Rodrigo, beleza?

   Sup Rodrigo, you good?

Quotations

For quotations using this term, see Citations:fala.

Derived terms

• (dialect):
  • fala de Estremadura
  • fala de Xálima

Related terms

Etymology 2

Verb

fala

1. inflection of falar:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

Quotations

For quotations using this term, see Citations:falar.

Romanian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):

Noun

fala f

1. definite nominative/accusative singular of fală

Samoan

Etymology

From Proto-Polynesian *fala, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian (compare Indonesian pandan, Hawaiian hala).

Noun

fala

1. the screw pine, pandanus (Pandanus tectorius)
2. a woven mat made from the leaves of the pandanus

Scottish Gaelic

Noun

fala f sg

1. genitive singular of fuil

Mutation

Serbo-Croatian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fǎːla/
• Hyphenation: fa‧la

Noun

fála f (Cyrillic spelling фа́ла)

1. (colloquial) Nonstandard form of hvála (“thanks”).

Sranan Tongo

Etymology 1

From English fell or Dutch vellen.

Verb

fala

1. to fell

Etymology 2

From English fall.

Verb

fala

1. to ebb

Swahili

Alternative forms

• fara

Pronunciation

• Audio (Kenya)

  (file)

Noun

fala (ma class, plural mafala)

1. (derogatory) a fool, an imbecile (person with poor judgement or little intelligence)

   Synonym: mjinga

Swedish

Adjective

fala

1. inflection of fal:
   1. definite singular
   2. plural

Anagrams

• alfa

Ternate

Etymology

Cognate with Tidore fola, Tabaru woa, West Makian pala.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):

Noun

fala

1. house

   fala mari ― stonen house

References

• Rika Hayami-Allen (2001) A descriptive study of the language of Ternate, the northern Moluccas, Indonesia, University of Pittsburgh

Tongan

Etymology

From Proto-Polynesian *fala, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian (compare Indonesian pandan, Hawaiian hala).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fa.la/

Noun

fala

1. a woven mat usually made from the leaves of the pandanus

Derived terms

• fakapopofala