Etymology: Ultimately < Czech polka (1835 or earlier in this sense), specific use of polka Polish woman (feminine form corresponding to polák a Pole), probably so named as an expression of sympathy with the Polish uprising of 1830–1 (although the earliest English examples present difficulties: see below). The word was widely introduced into European languages during the 1840s; compare French polka (1840 or earlier), German Polka (1841 or earlier), Russian pol′ka (1843 or earlier), etc. Compare earlier polska n. and polonaise n., denoting different dances (and in the case of polonaise n., a type of musical piece with a different time signature). For the sense development in sense 3 compare polonaise n. 2.Quots. 1825 at sense 1 and 1837 at sense 2, both from U.S. sources, are both surprisingly early in comparison with the European history of the word. It is perhaps possible that quot. 1837 at sense 2 refers to a polonaise or other dance identified as characteristically Polish. However, in quot. 1825 at sense 1 the title is apparently attached to a piece of music (in a manuscript copy book) in 2/4 time. Several alternative theories are now discredited, such as that advanced in N.E.D. (1907): ‘the dance being of Bohemian origin (originally called Nimra), it has been suggested that polka was a corruption of Czech pulka [i.e. půlka] half, “a characteristic feature being its short half steps”.’ The word has also been related to Czech pole field. N.E.D. (1907) gives the pronunciation as (pō^u·lkă) /ˈpəʊlkə/, which is the usual pronunciation given in 19th-cent. British dictionaries. The first edition of D. Jones Eng. Pronouncing Dict. (1917) gives this as an alternative to the pronunciation with o as in doll, which became the more usual British pronunciation in the 20th cent.

Etymology: < polka n. Compare slightly earlier polk v.