Polka

[pohl-kuh, poh-kuh] /ˈpoʊl kə, ˈpoʊ kə/

noun, plural polkas.
1.
a lively couple dance of Bohemian origin, with music in duple meter.
2.
a piece of music for such a dance or in its rhythm.
verb (used without object), polkaed, polkaing.
3.
to dance the polka.
/ˈpɒlkə/
noun (pl) -kas
1.
a 19th-century Bohemian dance with three steps and a hop, in fast duple time
2.
a piece of music composed for or in the rhythm of this dance
verb -kas, -kaing, -kaed
3.
(intransitive) to dance a polka
n.

1844, from French polka, German Polka, probably from Czech polka, the dance, literally “Polish woman” (Polish Polka), fem. of Polak “a Pole.” The word might also be an alteration of Czech pulka “half,” for the half-steps of Bohemian peasant dances. Or it could be a merger of the two. The dance was in vogue first in Prague, 1835; it reached London by the spring of 1842.

Vous n’en êtes encore qu’au galop, vieil arriéré, et nous en sommes à la polka! Oui, c’est la polka que nous avons dansée à ce fameux bal Valenlino. Vous demandez ce que c’est que la polka, homme de l année dernière! La contredanse a vécu; le galop, rococo; la valse à deux temps, dans le troisième dessous; il n’y a plus que la polka, la sublime, l’enivrante polka, dont les salons raffolent, que les femmes de la haute, les banquiéres les plus cossues et les comtesses les plus choenosophoses étudient jour et nuit. [“La France Dramatique,” Paris, 1841]

As a verb by 1846 (polk also was tried).

A lively dance for couples, originating in eastern Europe.

Note: Johann Strauss, the Younger wrote many polkas.

language
An object-oriented parallel logic programming language, built on top of Parlog.
[“Polka: A Parlog Object-Oriented Language”, Andrew Davison, TR, Parlog Group, Imperial College, London 1988].
(1995-01-31)