# palanca
## Catalan
### Etymology

Inherited from Vulgar Latin palanca, from Latin phalanga, from the accusative form of Ancient Greek φάλαγξ (phálanx, “log, trunk, body of soldiers, etc.”).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: (Central, Balearic) [pəˈlaŋ.kə]
* IPA: (Valencia) [paˈlaŋ.ka]

### Noun

palanca f (plural palanques)
* gangplank
* duckboard bridge
* lever
    Synonym: alçaprem
* crowbar
* diving board
* see-saw

#### Derived terms

* palanquejar
* palanqueta

### Further reading

* “palanca” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
* “palanca”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025
* “palanca” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
* “palanca” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

## Italian
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /paˈlan.ka/
* Rhymes: -anka
* Hyphenation: pa‧làn‧ca

### Etymology 1

From Vulgar Latin palanca, from Latin phalanga, from the accusative form of Ancient Greek φάλαγξ (phálanx, “log, trunk, body of soldiers, etc.”). Doublet of the borrowing falanga and related to falange (“phalanx”).

#### Noun

palanca f (plural palanche)
* board for use in construction, scaffolding or furniture-making

##### Derived terms

* palanchino

##### Descendants

* → Alemannic German: Palangge

##### See also

* asse, tavola, trave
* spalancare

### Etymology 2

From Spanish blanca (“small Early Modern Spanish copper coin”). Doublet of bianca.

#### Noun

palanca f (plural palanche)
* money
* (historical) any of several small copper coins, used in Tuscany, Venice and Liguria during and after the Italian Renaissance Wars, equivalent to the Spanish blanca, having a value equivalent to one or two historical pence

### Further reading

* palanca$^1$ in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana
* palanca$^2$ in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

## Latin
### Pronunciation

* (Classical Latin) IPA: /paˈlan.ka/, [päˈɫ̪äŋkä]
* (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA: /paˈlan.ka/, [päˈläŋkä]

### Etymology 1

Variant of phalanga.

#### Alternative forms

* planca

#### Noun

palanca f (genitive palancae); first declension
* slat, plank or stake
** c. 77 CE – 79 CE, Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia VIII.68:Gignit tota vita, quae est ei ad tricensimum annum. Partus caritas summa, sed aquarum taedium maius: per ignīs ad fetus tendunt, eaedem, si rivus minimus intersit, horrent ita ut pedes omnino caveant tinguere, nec nisi adsuetos potant fontīs quae sunt in pecuariis, atque ita ut sicco tramite ad potum eant. Nec pontīs transeunt per raritatem palancarum translucentibus fluviis.It breeds through all its lifetime, which is thirty years. It has a very great affection for its young, but a greater dislike for water: she-asses will go through fire to their foals, but yet if the smallest stream intervenes they are afraid of merely wetting their hooves. Those kept in pastures will only drink at springs they are used to, and where they can get to drink by a dry track; and they will not go across bridges with interstices in their structure allowing the gleam of the river to be seen through them.
** 1494, Francesco Mario Grapaldi, De partibus aedium, Parma, published 1516, page 189:Sublicae pali lignei ut longuriae fere & palancae: Inde sublicius pons Romae, e sublicis nullo ut volunt ferreo clavo compactus, Caesar in rerum suarum comentariis de ponte illo nobili supra Rhenum germaniae, non sublicae inquit modo directae ad perpendiculum sed pronae & fastigiatae.(please add an English translation of this quotation)

##### Declension

First-declension noun.

### Etymology 2

From Ottoman Turkish پلانقه (palanka) and Serbo-Croatian па̀ла̄нка / pàlānka, from Hungarian palánk, from German Planke, from Old French planke, from the word above.

#### Noun

palanca f (genitive palancae); first declension
* (New Latin) palanka, a palisaded frontier camp
** 1662, Ladislaus Listius (1628–1663), Cladis Mohachianae [The Fall of Mohács], volume 2, page 48:Id quoque quod de demolitionibus et disjectionibus Palancarum in eadem cum turca transactum clausumque est, in grande enormeque dedecus et damnum patriae nostrae vergit. Nam sub vocabulo destructionis Palancarum nihil aliud latet (licet istud suae sangvinariae malitiae glaucoma admodum tenui explicationis caliptra tegere studiant), quam exterminatio militum hajdonum trans-Tibiscum locatorum.This also what of demolition and dishevelment of the palankas has been wrought and finessed with the Turk, sets a great and enormous disgrace and wound to our fatherland. For under the concept of a destruction of the palankas nothing is hidden (though they strive to cover this swack of their thugduggery by spreading the thin headscarf of unfolding a story) but the extermination of the hajduk soldiers sent forth over Tibiscum.
** 1680, Franciszek à Mesgnien Meninski, “احتمال”, in Thesaurus linguarum orientalium, Turcicae, Arabicae, Persicae, praecipuas earum opes à Turcis peculiariter usurpatas continens, nimirum Lexicon Turkico-Arabico-Persicum‎ (in Ottoman Turkish, Turkish, Latin, German, Italian, French, and Polish), Vienna, column 76:
** 1797, Franjo Ksaver Pejačević, “Chronica Serbica Despotae Georgii Branković”, in Arkiv za povjestnicu jugoslavensku‎, volume III, Zagreb, published 1854, page 30:7125–1617. finito, et 7126–1618 veniente, exit Skender pasca contra Cosacos in terram Lehicham, minorem Russiam, et tunc advenit Bethlen Gabro et Radul Bogdaniae et Alexander Valachiae, verum non multi ceciderunt, et nonnullae palancae duntaxat incensae sunt. Postremo venit etiam perfidus Tatarus Cantamir, et populatus est minorem Russiam et 53 millia hominum praeter peccora abduxit.In the ending year 7125–1617 and beginning 7126–1618 Skender leaves the meadows against the Cossacks into Lechic earth, Little Russia, and then comes Bethlen Gabro and Radul of Bogdania and Alexander of Wallachia, but some fell, and some palankas at least have been set on fire. Later comes also the perfidious Tatar Cantamir, and populates Little Russia and abducts 53 thousand humans apart from livestock.

##### Declension

First-declension noun.

### References

* ↑ others read plancarum, others eorum.

## Occitan
### Etymology

From Old Occitan palanca, from Vulgar Latin palanca, from Latin phalanga, from the accusative form of Ancient Greek φάλαγξ (phálanx, “log, trunk, body of soldiers, etc.”). Compare Catalan palanca, French planche.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /paˈlaŋ.kɐ/
* Audio:(file)

### Noun

palanca f (plural palancas)
* plank, board
* (nautical) gangway, plank

## Portuguese
### Pronunciation

* (Brazil) IPA: /paˈlɐ̃.kɐ/
* (Brazil) IPA: /paˈlɐ̃.kɐ/
** (Southern Brazil) IPA: /paˈlɐ̃.ka/
* (Portugal) IPA: /pɐˈlɐ̃.kɐ/
* Rhymes: -ɐ̃kɐ

### Etymology 1

Borrowed from Spanish palanca, from Latin phalanga (“roller; pole”), from Ancient Greek φάλαγξ (phálanx, “log; phalanx”).

#### Noun

palanca f (plural palancas)
* stake (long, sharp piece of wood)
    Synonym: estaca
* lever (long, rigid object used to transmit force)
    Synonym: alavanca
* (military architecture, historical) a rampart with palisades or stakes

##### Related terms

* alavanca
* falange
* palanque
* panca

### Etymology 2

Borrowed from Zulu mpalanka.

#### Alternative forms

* impalanca, empalanca

#### Noun

palanca f (plural palancas)
* Hippotragus

### Further reading

* “palanca”, in Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), São Paulo: Editora Melhoramentos, 2015–2025
* “palanca”, in Dicionário infopédia da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2025

## Romanian
### Noun

palanca
* definite nominative/accusative singular of palancă

## Spanish
### Etymology

Inherited from Vulgar Latin palanca, from Latin phalanga, from the accusative form of Ancient Greek φάλαγξ (phálanx, “log, trunk, body of soldiers, etc.”). Cf. Italian palanca, English plank, planch, as well as Spanish plancha, an etymological doublet.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /paˈlanka/ [paˈlãŋ.ka]
* Rhymes: -anka
* Syllabification: pa‧lan‧ca

### Noun

palanca f (plural palancas)
* lever
* leverage, influence
* joystick
* handle (on a toilet)
* diving board, springboard
* (soccer) chip, chipped shot

#### Derived terms

* apalancar
* palanca de cambio
* palanca de cambios
* palanca de mando
* palanca de marchas
* trabapalancas

#### Related terms

* plancha

#### Descendants

* → Portuguese: palanca, panca
* → Ye'kwana: jadanka

### Further reading

* “palanca”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10