falla

Catalan

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic)
• IPA^(key): (Valencian)

Etymology 1

Inherited from Vulgar Latin *facla, contracted form of Latin facula, diminutive of fax (“torch”). Compare the borrowed doublet fàcula.

Noun

falla f (plural falles)

1. constructions of inflammable materials, based in figures that are caricatures (the ninots) that are installed in certain Valencian municipalities and are burned to ashes the day of Saint Joseph
2. the holidays around these constructions
3. the associations or organizations around these constructions
4. fire, bonfire

Derived terms

• faller
• Falles

Etymology 2

Deverbal of fallar.

Noun

falla f (plural falles)

1. fault or lack
2. (geology) fault

Related terms

• fallir
• fallar

Etymology 3

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

falla

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

Further reading

• “falla” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “falla” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Faroese

Etymology

From Old Norse falla, from Proto-Germanic *fallaną, from Proto-Indo-European *peh₃lH-.

Verb

falla (third person singular past indicative fall, third person plural past indicative fullu, supine fallið)

1. to fall

Conjugation

Galician

Etymology

From Old Galician-Portuguese falla (13th century, Cantigas de Santa Maria), from a Vulgar Latin *fallia, possibly through the intermediate or influence of Old French faille or Old Occitan falha. The geological sense is a more modern one from French.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):

Noun

falla f (plural fallas)

1. lack; shortage

   Synonym: marra

2. flaw; fail

   Synonym: eiva

3. (geology) a fault

Derived terms

• sen falla (“certainly, without fail”)

References

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

Icelandic

Etymology

From Old Norse falla, from Proto-Germanic *fallaną, from Proto-Indo-European *peh₃lH-.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfatla/
• Rhymes: -atla

Verb

falla (strong verb, third-person singular past indicative féll, third-person plural past indicative féllu, supine fallið)

1. (intransitive) to fall
2. (intransitive) to be killed, especially in action or in battle
   • Matthew 26:52 (English and Icelandic)

     Jesús sagði við hann: „Slíðra sverð þitt! Allir, sem sverði bregða, munu fyrir sverði falla.“

     “Put your sword back in its place,” Jesus said to him, “for all who draw the sword will die by the sword.”

3. (intransitive) to flow
4. (intransitive) to fit closely, to shut tight, to meet
5. (intransitive) to like

Conjugation

Synonyms

• (fall): detta
• (be killed): vera drepinn
• (flow): streyma
• (fit closely): falla þétt að
• (like): líka

Derived terms

• falla allur ketill í eld
• falla um
• falla um koll
• falla í gleymsku
• falla vel við (to like somebody)

  Mér fellur vel við hann.

  I like him.

• falla þungt (to be grieved by something)

  Mér fellur þetta þungt.

  This grieves me.

• fallast
• fallast á
• fallast hendur
• fallinn m, fallin f, fallið n
• vera vel til fallið (to be a good idea)
• falla á prófi (to fail an exam)
• falla að (of the tide; to be coming in)
• falla frá
• falla í gjalddaga
• falla í kosningum
• falla í stafi
• falla í skaut
• falla niður
• fall
• falla eins og flís við rass

Related terms

• fella

Noun

falla n

1. indefinite genitive plural of fall

Irish

Pronunciation

• (Munster) IPA^(key): /ˈfˠɑl̪ˠə/

Noun

falla m (genitive singular falla, nominative plural fallaí)

1. Munster form of balla (“wall”)

Declension

Mutation

Further reading

• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “falla”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN
• Sjoestedt, M. L. (1931) Phonétique d’un parler irlandais de Kerry (in French), Paris: Librairie Ernest Leroux, page 18

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfal.la/
• Rhymes: -alla
• Hyphenation: fàl‧la

Etymology 1

Deverbal from fallare +‎ -a.

Noun

falla f (plural falle)

1. a hole, especially a leak (from a wall or a ship's keel)
2. (figurative, by extension) a reason or source of loss (of money, resources, etc.)

   tamponare le falle dell'erario

   to provisionally remedy the (financial) hemorrhaging of the treasury

3. (military) to retreat on a front of a battle, allowing enemy penetration into one's territory
4. a defect in a fabric, due to an error in the weaving process

   Synonyms: fallatura, fallo

Etymology 2

Borrowed from English fall, with influence from the lemma above.

Noun

falla f (plural falle)

1. (radio engineering) drop

Etymology 3

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

falla

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

Further reading

• falla¹ in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana
• falla² in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

Maltese

Etymology

Probably borrowed from Italian fallire. At least Italian influence is certain, but compare Arabic فَلَّ (falla, “to go away”), with which it could theoretically have been merged. It is a fairly rare word, but very common in North Levantine Arabic, with which Maltese (though more closely related to Maghrebi dialects) shares some similarities.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfalla/

Verb

falla (imperfect jfalli)

1. to be absent

Conjugation

Norwegian Bokmål

Alternative forms

• fallene

Noun

falla n

1. definite plural of fall

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology 1

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Noun

falla

1. definite plural of fall

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

falla (present tense fell, past tense fall, past participle falle, passive infinitive fallast, present participle fallande, imperative fall)

1. Alternative form of falle

Old Norse

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *fallaną, from Proto-Indo-European *peh₃lH-. Akin to Old English feallan (whence English fall), Old Frisian falla (whence West Frisian falle), Old Saxon fallan (whence Low German fallen), Old Dutch fallan (whence Dutch vallen), Old High German fallan (whence German fallen).

Verb

falla (singular past indicative fell, plural past indicative fellu, past participle fallinn)

1. to fall

Conjugation

Descendants

• Icelandic: falla
• Faroese: falla
• Norwegian:
  • Norwegian Bokmål: falle
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: falla, falle
• Elfdalian: folla
• Old Swedish: falla
  • Swedish: falla
• Old Danish: fallæ
  • Danish: falde
  • Scanian: falða
• Gutnish: falle

Old Swedish

Etymology

From Old Norse falla, from Proto-Germanic *fallaną, from Proto-Indo-European *peh₃lH-.

Verb

falla

1. to fall

Conjugation

Descendants

• Swedish: falla

Portuguese

Etymology 1

Noun

falla f (plural fallas)

1. Obsolete spelling of fala

Verb

falla

1. Obsolete spelling of fala

Etymology 2

Verb

falla

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

Sotho

Verb

falla

1. to emigrate

Spanish

Pronunciation

• Syllabification: fa‧lla

Etymology 1

Likely from Catalan falla, with the geological sense from French faille.

Noun

falla f (plural fallas)

1. flaw
2. failure
3. outage, such as a blackout
4. (geology) fault

Related terms

Etymology 2

Verb

falla

1. inflection of fallar:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative
2. inflection of fallir:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

References

• Joan Coromines, José A. Pascual (1984) “fallir”, in Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico (in Spanish), volumes II (Ce–F), Madrid: Gredos, →ISBN, page 845

Further reading

• “falla”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014

Swedish

Etymology

From Old Swedish falla, from Old Norse falla, from Proto-Germanic *fallaną, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂p-h₃elh₁-.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /²falːa/

• audio

  (file)

Verb

falla (present faller, preterite föll, supine fallit, imperative fall)

1. to fall

   falla genom luften

   fall through the air

   falla till backen

   fall to the ground

   Glaset föll i golvet

   The glass fell to the floor (i (“in”) as opposed to till (“to”) puts more focus on the impact and often implies an accidental fall – can be thought of as a generalization of "fall in the water" and the like)

2. to fall (die, especially in battle)

   Synonym: stupa

Conjugation

Derived terms

Related terms

• fälla

See also

• trilla

References

• falla in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• falla in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• falla in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)