πατάνη

Forms

πᾰτᾰ́νη (patánē) f (genitive πᾰτᾰ́νης); first declension^[1] Doric πατάνα (patána); also a neuter πάτανον (pátanon) (Pollux, Hesychius) and Sicilian βατάνη (batánē).^[2][3][4]

Etymology

Beekes considers it probably Pre-Greek, following Furnée, who connects it with πέταχνον (pétakhnon, “broad flat cup”).^[5][1] Its ending is the one found in other names of vessels, such as λεκάνη (lekánē, “dish, pot”) and οὐράνη (ouránē, “chamber pot”).^[5][3][4]

Others look for an Indo-European source: Frisk compares Latin patera (“flat drinking bowl”), assuming an old alternation of /r/ and /n/ that he finds preserved in Hittite pattar, dative-locative paddani, a container whose exact meaning is uncertain (a tray or a basket).^[4] Chantraine considers the same comparison but leaves open whether the Greek and Hittite words are related by descent or by borrowing; the Hittite vessel was of wicker or wood and held grain, not liquids.^[3] An older view derives it from πετάννυμι (petánnūmi, “to spread out”), from an earlier form with /e/ assimilated to /a/, and Pokorny lists it under Proto-Indo-European *pet- (“to spread out”), but Chantraine finds this unsatisfactory in both form and meaning.^[4][6][3] Because of the Sicilian form with /b/, André proposed an Illyrian origin.^[4]

Latin borrowed it as patina.^[3][4][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in the Syracusan mime-writer Sophron, meaning a broad flat dish.^[2][5][3]

Semantic evolution

From a Hesychius gloss that explains the diminutive as broad flat dishes and bowl-shaped cups, Chantraine concludes that the word meant a wide earthenware vessel, more a tureen than a plate.^[3] Epicharmus formed from it the compound πατάνεψις (patánepsis), an eel cooked in such a dish, and the comic poets used the diminutive πατάνιον (patánion); Πατανίων is the name of a cook in a comedy by Philetaerus.^[3][2]

In Modern Greek πατάνη (patáni) was a sailor's or soldier's mess tin.^[8][9]

Timeline

• 5th century BC – Sophron uses it for a flat dish.^[2][5][10]
• 4th century BC – Antiphanes and Eubulus use the diminutive πατάνιον (patánion).^[2][10]
• 2nd century AD – Pollux lists it among vessels, together with the neuter πάτανον (pátanon).^[2][3][10]
• Modern Greek – The word is used for the mess tin of sailors and soldiers.^[8][9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A broad flat dish or shallow bowl.^[2][5][3]

Word family

• πατάνιον (patánion)
• πάτανον (pátanon)

Related words

• πέταχνον (pétakhnon)
• Latin patina

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Chantraine, Pierre (2009), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grecque: histoire des mots, new ed. with a supplement (Chroniques d'étymologie grecque 1–10), Paris: Klincksieck
4. ^ a b c d e f Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
5. ^ a b c d e Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ Pokorny, Julius (1959), Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern; Munich: Francke
7. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
8. ^ a b Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
9. ^ a b Πολυλεξικό, in the encyclopedia Επιστήμη και Ζωή, Athens
10. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge