paternus

Forms

paternus (feminine paterna, neuter paternum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin pater (“father”) + -nus.^[2][1][3] De Vaan derives pater from Proto-Italic *pater-, from Proto-Indo-European *ph₂tḗr (“father”), cognate with Oscan patir, Sanskrit पितृ (pitṛ́, “father”), Ancient Greek πατήρ (patḗr) and Old High German fater.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Ennius.^[3] Plautus has apud suom paternum hospitem, “at the house of his father's guest-friend”, and Caecilius rem paternam, “his father's property”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Paternus is “of a father, paternal”: a father's property, friends, slaves and relations.^[2][5][1] In poetry it extends to “ancestral” (Horace: paternōs in sinū ferēns deōs, “carrying his ancestral gods in his bosom”) and to one's origin or birthplace, “native” (Horace: paternī flūminis rīpae, “the banks of your native river”).^[2][1]

Church Latin glosses it “paternal, fatherly”.^[6] Köbler records it widely in early medieval laws.^[3]

Timeline

• 204–169 BC – Ennius uses it.^[3]
• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus: paternum hospitem.^[2][3]
• 230/220–168 BC – Caecilius: rem paternam.^[2][3]
• 65–8 BC – Horace: paternōs … deōs;^[2][3] paternī flūminis.^[2][3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of a father, paternal, fatherly.^[2][5][1][6]
2. Related through the father.^[1]
3. ancestral, of one's forefathers.^[2][1]
4. native, of one's birthplace or origin.^[2][1]

Word family

• paternitās
• paternālis

Related words

• pater
• patrius
• māternus

Usage notes

L&S distinguish paternus, used of a father's property, possessions and outward relations (paternī agrī, servī, lībertī), from patrius, used of what belongs to his nature, dignity or duty (patrius amor, patria potestās).^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson