Learn Romanian › poală
poală
lap (of a person sitting) /ˈpo̯alə/
noun#4530 most common
Also: hem or flap of a skirt/garment, foot of a hill or mountain
Example sentences
Copilul doarme în poala mamei.
The child is sleeping in his mother's lap.
Fetița a pus merele în poală.
The little girl put the apples in her lap.
Satul e la poala muntelui.
The village is at the foot of the mountain.
Ea își ținea pisica în poală în timp ce citea.
She held the cat in her lap while she read.
Poalele dealului erau pline de flori sălbatice primăvara.
The foothills of the hill were full of wild flowers in spring.
Amintirile copilăriei mele stau ascunse, ca niște comori, în poala uitării.
My childhood memories lie hidden, like treasures, in the lap of forgetting.
Declension
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | poală | poale |
| Genitive | poalei | poalelor |
| Accusative | poala | poalele |
| Vocative | poală | poale |
Word family
subpoalăpetticoat, underskirt
poalele munteluithe foot of the mountain
a ține în poalăto hold in one's lap
Etymology
Poală is an old, inherited word in Romanian, present since the earliest texts with the sense of lap and, by extension, the hanging hem of a skirt or garment. Romanian dictionaries trace it to a Latin base, though the exact source form is not fully settled. From the physical image of a lap or a hanging hem, the word extended to describe the sloping base of a hill or mountain, much as English speaks of the foot of a mountain.
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