patriota

Forms

patriōta m (genitive patriōtae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek πατριώτης (patriṓtēs, “fellow countryman”).^[2][3][4] The Greek word is built on πάτριος (pátrios, “of one's fathers”) and πατρίς (patrís, “fatherland”), which come from πατήρ (patḗr, “father”), with the suffix -ώτης (-ṓtēs).^[4] It goes back to Proto-Indo-European *ph₂tḗr (“father”), the source also of pater and patria.^[1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in a letter of Gregory the Great (540–604 AD),^[3] who tells his readers: beati Augustini patriotae vestri opuscula legite “read the works of the blessed Augustine, your countryman”; some manuscripts have compatriotae instead.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

In Late Latin it meant a fellow countryman, the sense continued by Italian patriota.^[2][5] Medieval Latin used it for a compatriot and for an inhabitant or native of a place;^[6][7] a saint's life calls Columbanus the illustrious patriota of all the Scots.^[7] British sources from about 1100 also use it for a countryman living on the land and for the inhabitant of a particular country.^[8]

English took patriot in the 1590s in the sense “compatriot”, from French patriote and directly from the Late Latin word.^[4]

Timeline

• 540–604 AD – Gregory the Great calls Augustine “your countryman” in a letter.^[2][5][3]
• c. 1100 – A Whitby charter reports what the “old countrymen” told about the monasteries of the time.^[8]
• 1590s – English borrows patriot, at first meaning “compatriot”, from French and Late Latin.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A fellow countryman, a compatriot.^[2][9][6]
2. (Medieval Latin) An inhabitant or native of a country or district.^[6][7][8]
3. (Medieval Latin) A countryman, one who lives in the countryside.^[8]

Word family

• compatriōta
• patriōticus

Related words

• English patriot

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
7. ^ a b c du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre
8. ^ a b c d Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
9. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press