Etymologically
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panis

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈpaː.nɪs][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈpaː.nis][1]

Forms

pānis m (genitive pānis); third declension[1] A neuter pāne is found in Plautus.[2][3]

Etymology

The origin is uncertain.[4][1] Its link with pāstillus “small cake” points to an older form Proto-Italic *pāst-ni- (“loaf, cake”), which is usually connected with the root of pāscō “to feed, graze”, Proto-Indo-European *peh₂-.[4][1][2][5] De Vaan does not see how “graze” could become “bread” with this suffix alone, and offers no alternative.[4] Wiktionary also compares pānus and pānicum “millet”.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Plautus onwards,[4][6] who speaks of asking the baker for bread.[2]

Semantic evolution

It meant bread and a loaf: Terence has panis ater “black bread”, Cicero panis cibarius “coarse bread” and Horace panis secundus “second-grade bread”.[2][7] It meant food and a livelihood in general, as in Petronius' “this business brings in bread”, and a loaf or cake of something else, as of fish.[2]

In Christian Latin it was the bread of the Eucharist,[8][6] and Medieval Latin used it for grain fit for bread, as in Catalan charters.[8][9] It survives in all the Romance languages, as Sardinian pane, Italian pane, French pain, Spanish pan and Portuguese pão, and as Romanian pâine, which became feminine.[10][1] English companion comes from Late Latin companio, a “bread-fellow”, and pantry from a Medieval Latin bread room.[11]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it for bread from the baker.[2][6]
  • 190–159 BC – Terence mentions black bread.[2][6]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero mentions coarse bread.[7][6]
  • 907 – A Catalan charter uses it for bread grain.[9]
  • c. 1300 – English companion comes through Old French.[11]
  • early 14th century – English pantry is first recorded.[11]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Bread; a loaf.[2][3]
  2. Food; a livelihood.[2][1]
  3. A loaf or cake (of another food).[2][1]
  4. (Ecclesiastical Latin) The bread of the Eucharist.[8][6]
  5. (Medieval Latin) Bread grain.[8][9]

Word family

  • compāniō
  • pānāriolum
  • pānārium
  • pānārius
  • pānicellus
  • pāniceus
  • pānicium
  • pānicoctārius
  • pānifex
  • pānifica
  • pānificium
  • pānōsus

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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 de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  5. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  6. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  8. ^ a b c d Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  9. ^ a b c Glossarium Mediae Latinitatis Cataloniae (1960–; online ed. 2025), Barcelona: CSIC / Institució Milà i Fontanals, gmlc.imf.csic.es
  10. ^ Buchi, Éva; Schweickard, Wolfgang, eds. (2008–), Dictionnaire Étymologique Roman (DÉRom), Nancy: ATILF, http://www.atilf.fr/DERom
  11. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com