patrón

Forms

patrón m (plural patrones, feminine patrona, feminine plural patronas)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin patrōnus (“protector, defender”), a learned word first recorded in Alfonso de Palencia's Latin–Spanish dictionary; the feminine form is from patrōna.^{[2][3][4][1][5]} The Latin noun is a derivative of pater (“father”).^[6][7]

The same Latin word was inherited, with a change of suffix, as padrón, recorded from a charter of 1156.^[2][3] The Old Spanish word had the Latin sense “patron, protector”, from which came “model, pattern” (1570) and “list, census” (1495).^[2][3] Alfonso X's prose uses the form ⟨padron⟩ both for the patron of a church and for a model taken as a pattern.^[8] A second learned form is patrono, recorded from 1444.^[3][9] Corominas compares Italian padrone “master, owner”; other cognates are French patron, Catalan patró and Portuguese patrão.^[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas's first records are two passages of Palencia's Universal vocabulario (1490).^[2][3] DICCA-XV dates its own first record of the word to 1445–1463.^[10] The sense “patron, protector” was already explained in Alfonso X's laws under the older form: patronus en latin tanto quier dezir en romanz; como padre de carga “patronus in Latin means in Romance a father who bears a charge”, because he cares for the church as a father for his son.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The Diccionario de Autoridades recorded most of the modern senses: the master of a ship, the householder on whom soldiers were billeted, the patron saint of a kingdom, town or brotherhood, the titular saint of a church, the holder of a right of patronage, the former master of a freed slave, and a pattern for making something identical.^[11] The sense “standard” is recorded in Mexico City in 1545 for the official mark against which weights were checked.^[12] Baralt accepted the pattern sense in cortados por el mismo patrón “cut from the same cloth” but not formarse sobre un buen patrón “to take a good model”, which he thought French.^[13] The Academy added “master, boss” and the master of a merchant vessel by 1899, and Alemany in 1917 the monetary standard and the rootstock of a graft.^[14][15]

In Mexico and Guatemala patrón is a popular form of respectful address to a superior, and in Chile it was also the keeper of a rural chapel.^[16][17] In Ecuador it means “master, lord”.^[18] In Spain patrona is the landlady of a boarding house.^[19][4]

Timeline

• 1490 – first record, in Alfonso de Palencia's Universal vocabulario.^[2][3]
• 1545 – first record from the Americas, in Mexico City, for a standard of weights.^[12]
• 1554 – in Puebla, the patron of a chaplaincy.^[12]
• 1737 – the Diccionario de Autoridades lists the ship's master, the patron saint and the pattern.^[11]
• 1855 – Baralt discusses the sense “model, pattern”.^[13]
• 1884 – the Academy derives it from patrono.^[20]
• 1917 – Alemany adds the monetary standard and the stock of a graft.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. A protector or defender.^[4][1]
2. The titular saint of a church.^[4]
3. A saint chosen as protector of a town or of a religious, professional or civil body; a patron saint.^[4][19]
4. The owner of the house where someone lodges; a landlord or landlady.^[4]
5. A master, with respect to a servant.^[4][1]
6. An employer; a boss (= patrono).^[4][1]
7. The skipper of a small merchant vessel or of a pleasure boat.^[4]
8. A model from which something identical is made; a pattern, as for cutting out a garment.^[4][1][19]
9. The metal taken as the standard of value of a monetary system, as in patrón oro “gold standard”.^[4]
10. (botany) The plant on which a graft is made; a rootstock.^[4][21]
11. (feminine, historical) The galley next in rank to the flagship of a squadron.^[4]

Word family

• patronear
• patronal
• patronazgo

Related words

• patrocinar
• patronato
• patrono
• padrón
• padre
• Latin patrōnus
• Italian padrone

Usage notes

The feminine is patrona.^[4][1] A proverb says donde hay patrón, no manda marinero “where there is a skipper, the sailor does not give orders”.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 335
3. ^ a b c d e f Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. padre
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. patrón
5. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. patrón
6. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. s.v. patrón
7. ^ Wikcionario (Spanish Wiktionary), es.wiktionary.org
8. ^ a b Kasten, Lloyd A.; Nitti, John J.; Gago Jover, Francisco (2002–), Diccionario de la prosa castellana del Rey Alfonso X, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (electronic edition 2024), p. s.v. patrón
9. ^ Segura Munguía, Santiago (2001), Nuevo diccionario etimológico latín-español y de las voces derivadas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 541
10. ^ Lleal, Coloma (dir.), DICCA-XV: Diccionario del castellano del siglo XV en la Corona de Aragón, Barcelona: Universitat de Barcelona, Grup d'Estudis d'Història de la Llengua (GHCL), https://ghcl.ub.edu/diccaxv
11. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. s.v. patrón
12. ^ a b c Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, p. s.v. patrón
13. ^ a b Baralt, Rafael María (1855), Diccionario de galicismos, Madrid: Imprenta de J. Cruzado, p. 506
14. ^ Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 752
15. ^ a b Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena
16. ^ Santamaría, Francisco J. (1942), Diccionario general de americanismos, 3 vols., México: Pedro Robredo, p. 427
17. ^ Román, Manuel Antonio (1901–1918), Diccionario de chilenismos y de otras voces y locuciones viciosas, 5 vols., Santiago de Chile: Imprenta de San José, p. 167
18. ^ Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. patrón
19. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. patrón
20. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 801
21. ^ Academia Puertorriqueña de la Lengua Española; Universidad de Puerto Rico, Tesoro lexicográfico del español de Puerto Rico, https://tesoro.pr