Etymograph

English

paleta

Paleta comes from Spanish paleta ‘small stick’, from pala ‘shovel, spade’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂ǵ- ‘to attach, fasten’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*peh₂ǵ-1‘to attach, fasten’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pak-slo-1reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*pākslā1reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpāla2‘a shovel, spade’
  5. Spanishc. 1500–presentpala2‘shovel, spade’
  6. Spanishc. 1500–presentpaleta3‘small stick’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 2008paleta3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin pala
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Spanish paleta
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English paleta
  4. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2008, Mark Bittman, Mexican Summer on a Stick: “Throughout Mexico, paletas are made with fresh fruit and…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*peh₂ǵ-Wiktionary, Latin pala‘to attach, fasten’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pak-slo-Wiktionary, Latin palareconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*pākslāWiktionary, Latin palareconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpālaWiktionary, Spanish paleta‘a shovel, spade’
  5. Spanishc. 1500–presentpalaWiktionary, Spanish paleta‘shovel, spade’
  6. Spanishc. 1500–presentpaletaWiktionary, English paleta‘small stick’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 2008paletaWiktionary, English paleta. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2008, Mark Bittman, Mexican Summer on a Stick: “Throughout Mexico, paletas are made with fresh fruit and…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *peh₂ǵ- ‘to attach, fasten’

travel, page, propaganda, pole, compact, peasant, pagan, propagate, travail, pectin, impinge, palisade, pagination, impactor, 29 more

through Latin pāla ‘a shovel, spade’

peel, pala, 1 more

Today it means

noun A caramel lollipop.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “paleta”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin pala, Spanish paleta. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *peh₂ǵ- / paleta

Shirt and support for this word