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This might be somehow surprising to Romance languages speakers(I think) but indeed, parasol refers to device protecting from rain in Polish. ;) There is also parasolka, which [edited out due to factual in-correctness].
when did you find that distinction. It is first time I see it, and SJP PWN has parasol, as device protecting from sun or rain and parasolka as parasol dedicated for women.
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Hahaha, that's just the way I was using it until today. xD But yes, checking dictionary, you are right, so I guess I was using that word wrong for about 30+ years now. ;) This is really embarrassing. ;)
Goes to show that my usual protection against rain is "nieprzemakalna kurtka z kapturem"(waterproof jacket), I guess. ;) I don't even own an umbrella, so it's not really part of my day-to-day vocabulary. ;)
In Spanish parasol plażowy is sombrilla and parasol (deszczowy I guess?) is paraguas. There is a distinction and I was wondering if there is in Polish, but no, they just say "parasol" for sth. It's simpler that way, so it's great :)
I was discussing @emwue's comment, AFAIK as a Polish speaker we have two words, I thought they were regional variants but dictionary says feminine noun is for female dedicated ones.
My Dutch dictionary (Kluwer) gives parasol = umbrella (paraplu) and parasolka = parasol (a sun protecting device).
your dictionary is wrong. both can be against rain or sun.
according to WSJP.pl
1) the one that you keep in hand - parasol for all devices, parasolka for smaller ones dedicated to women an children
2) the ones at the coffee shop - parasol for all devices, parasolka for the ones that cover one table.
3) parasol- figuratively about protection
3) parasolka - small umbrellas in drink
It can be parasol plażowy. or parasol ogrodowy - garden umbrella. Parasol can be any umbrella.
You know, the word parasol literally means 'stop-sun' in Spanish. I have no idea how the word made it into both English and Polish, but in any case English uncharacteristically uses it correctly, while Polish changes its meaning... I think even though loan words are great, false-friends are terrible and don't help anyone, so by rights, if we're going with the latin connection, the Polish word for 'umbrella' ought to really be 'paragua' :)
Apparently it ('paragua') used to be "parapluj", from French "parapluie". But it has gone out of usage around a 100 years ago. Maybe because "pluj" is imperative form of "to spit" ;)
If the Polish question started with "Czy", then we require an English translation with the question word order: "Do you...?"
