palatum

Forms

palātum n (genitive palātī); second declension^[1] A masculine palātus also occurs, as in Cicero.^[2][3]

Etymology

The origin is uncertain.^[4][2] De Vaan suggests that it is an adjective in -ātus to a stem meaning flat or broad, from Proto-Indo-European *plh₂-o- or *plh₂-u-, comparing Hittite palhi- (“broad”), since the palate can be thought of as a flattened or vaulted part; the hill name Palātium could then be derived from it.^[5] The OLD instead compares, with doubt, Etruscan falandum (“sky”), and Etymonline reports Klein's view of an Etruscan origin.^[2][6]

Isidore explained that the palate lies like the sky over the mouth, deriving it from polus, the heavens.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Ennius,^[7] who speaks of the “vault of heaven”, a use the OLD takes as an imitation of Ancient Greek οὐρανός (ouranós, “sky; roof of the mouth”).^[2] De Vaan's first author is Varro.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Its ordinary sense is the roof of the mouth, the palate, also with reference to eating and drinking and as an organ of speech, as when Cicero says that images cannot speak without a tongue and a palate.^[2] From this it means the sense of taste: Varro writes that even the large oysters of Baiae could not rouse a jaded palate.^[2] Isidore notes that Greek also calls the palate “sky”.^[4] In Church Latin it means palate and taste.^[8] English borrowed palate in the late 14th century, partly through Old French.^[6]

Timeline

• 204–169 BC – Ennius of the vault of heaven.^[2][7]
• 116–27 BC – Varro of the sense of taste.^[2][5][7]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of the palate as an organ of speech.^[2][7]
• c. 560–636 AD – Isidore compares the palate to the sky.^[4][7]
• late 14th century – Borrowed into English as palate.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. The roof of the mouth, palate, also as used in eating and in speech.^[2][3][1]
2. (poetic) The vault or dome of heaven, the sky.^[2][1]
3. The sense of taste.^[2][8]

Word family

• palātīnus

Related words

• Palātium
• English palate

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
8. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson