patron

Forms

patron m^[1]

• patrun, pattron^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin patrōnus (“protector, patron”),^[4][5][6] which is formed from pater (“father”) on the model of colōnus.^[7] In Medieval Latin the word also meant a feudal lord, the patron of a church and a patron saint.^[8][6] The REW contrasts this learned form with the inherited Italian padrone, Spanish padrón and Portuguese padrão.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is Philippe de Thaon's Comput, dated 1119 or 1113, where the word means a model or exemplar, the book a writer follows.^[2][10][11]

Semantic evolution

Bloch and Wartburg take “protector”, above all a patron saint, as the dominant sense in the Middle Ages, and derive the others from it.^[4] The TLFi dates the patron saint of a church to the middle of the 13th century, the protector to the end of it, and the lord of a serf to about 1265.^[2][6] The sense “model” led to a pattern by which objects are made (1260, in the Livre des métiers), and the seafaring “master of a ship” is recorded from 1337, probably after Italian padrone.^[2][4] The word continues as French patron.^[2]

Timeline

• 1113–1119 – patron “model” in Philippe de Thaon's Comput.^[2][10]
• c. 1250 – patrun “patron saint” in the Vie d'Edouard le Confesseur.^[2][6]
• 1260 – “pattern for making objects” in Étienne Boileau's Livre des métiers.^[2]
• c. 1265 – “lord of a serf” in Li livres de jostice et de plet.^[2]
• 1284 – the feminine patroine.^[2]
• 1337 – “master of a ship”.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. a model, exemplar; a pattern or design.^[2][12]
2. a patron saint.^[2][12][11]
3. a protector, master, lord.^[12][11]
4. (church law) the holder of an advowson, who may present to a benefice.^[12]
5. the master of a ship or galley.^[12][2]

Anglo-Norman

Philippe de Thaon's Comput is an Anglo-Norman text, and the AND first cites the word from 1113–1119.^[10][12] The AND records insular senses such as the patron of a benefice, the founder of a religious order and a galley captain.^[12] Middle English took it from French and Medieval Latin as patron, with both the senses “patron” and “pattern”;^[13][14] English patron and pattern are doublets, not clearly separated before the 18th century.^[13][14]

Word family

• patroine

Descendants

• Middle French patron (→ French patron)^[15][2]
• Middle English patron (borrowed; → English patron, pattern)^[13][14]

Usage notes

The TLFi splits the word into patron 1 “protector” and patron 2 “model”, which it treats as the same word in a figurative use.^[2]

References

1. ^ Tobler, Adolf; Lommatzsch, Erhard (1925–2002), Altfranzösisches Wörterbuch, 11 vols., Berlin / Wiesbaden / Stuttgart: Weidmann / Steiner, p. 7:490
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
3. ^ FROLEX 3.0, lexique morphologique du français médiéval (IXe–XVe s.), Base de français médiéval, ENS de Lyon (from the BFM, the Nouveau Corpus d'Amsterdam and the DMF), github.com/sheiden/Medieval-French-Language-Toolkit
4. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France, p. 509
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 8:25
6. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. patron
7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. patrōnus
8. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. patronus
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 6300
10. ^ a b c Baldinger, Kurt; Möhren, Frankwalt; Städtler, Thomas, eds. (1971–2021), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'ancien français (DEAF), Heidelberg: Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften; DEAFél / DEAFpré, deaf-server.adw.uni-heidelberg.de, p. s.v. patron
11. ^ a b c Greimas, Algirdas Julien (1979), Dictionnaire de l'ancien français jusqu'au milieu du XIVe siècle, 2nd ed., Paris: Larousse (printing of 1988), p. s.v. patron
12. ^ a b c d e f g Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–), p. s.v. patron
13. ^ a b c Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
14. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
15. ^ Dictionnaire du Moyen Français, version 2015 (DMF 2015), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/dmf, p. s.v. patron