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patera

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word patera

Confidence
Uncertain
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 250–184 BC, Plautus

Forms

patera f (genitive paterae); first declension[1]

Etymology

It is perhaps from pateō (“to be open, spread out”), for its broad open shape; the OLD compares patina (“dish”).[2][3][1] Others connect Greek πατάνη (patánē, “flat dish”).[4] Ortiz compares an Etruscan word ⟨pataras⟩ cut on a vessel, but the TLL notes that if he is right it is unclear whether the Etruscan or the Latin word came first.[4] De Vaan takes ⟨pateō⟩ as an inner-Italic stative built on ⟨*pat-⟩, from the root of pandō (“to spread”), Proto-Indo-European *pt-n(é)-h₂- (“to spread”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus has a golden bowl in the Amphitruo;[3] Köbler too gives Plautus.[6]

Semantic evolution

It is a broad, shallow bowl or dish, used above all to pour libations in sacrifice, as Ovid's wine poured from a bowl on marble altars and Virgil's libations from bowls of gold.[2][3][1] Sallust tells of human blood carried round in bowls by Catiline's conspirators, and Cicero of Themistocles catching a bull's blood in one.[3] Varro and Macrobius discuss it, and Festus explains pateram perplovere in ritual as a bowl with a hole.[3]

Church Latin glosses it “shallow bowl”.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of a golden bowl.[3][6]
  • 86–34 BC – Sallust of the conspirators' bowls of blood.[3][6]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil of libations from golden bowls.[3][6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A broad, shallow bowl or dish, especially for pouring libations.[2][3][1][7]

Word family

  • patella

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ 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 d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
Cite this entry

“Patera.” Etymologically, 19 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/patera. Accessed 19 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·