patron

patron¹ cartridge; pattern

Forms

patron n (plural patroane)^[1] Regional forms include patroană and pătroană (feminine), pătrăon and pătrân (neuter), recorded by the linguistic atlases.^[2]

Etymology

The word for the cartridge is borrowed from German Patrone (“cartridge”), according to DEX, MDA2, the DLR and Ciorănescu.^[1][3][2][4] For the sense “pattern, design” MDA2 and the DLR also name a French source, borrowed from French patron (“pattern, model”), and DN takes the whole word from French.^[3][2][5]

The German word was borrowed in the 16th century from the French one, in its sense “form, pattern, model”.^[6][7] It first named the paper or cloth case holding the charge of a firearm, then the charge with its bullet in a metal case.^[6] Pfeifer explains the “pattern” sense as the “father form” after which something is made, a figurative use of “protector”.^[7] The French word itself is from Latin patrōnus (“protector”), from pater (“father”).^[8][7] The same word reached Romanian separately as patron².^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2 and the DLR cite the Lexicon de la Buda of 1825 for the sense “bullet, cartridge”.^[3][2] In 1860 an order quoted by the DLR provides ten patroane de soldat “soldiers' cartridges” for each regiment.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The word is mostly Transylvanian and Banat: it is the regional word for a cartridge in Transylvania, Banat and Maramureș.^[2][9] In mining it names a stick of dynamite: the miner goes down the shaft with the patron de dinamită in his pocket.^[2][10] Barcianu's dictionary already glosses it with both German Muster “pattern” and Patrone “cartridge”, and MDA2 dates the pattern sense to 1868.^[11][3] This sense, a template for cutting a garment or a design for weaving, is rare.^[3][2] Technical senses followed: the porcelain body of an electric fuse, and a weaving scheme in the textile industry.^[1]

Timeline

• 1825 – “bullet, cartridge”, cited from the Lexicon de la Buda.^[3][2]
• 1860 – patroane de soldat “soldiers' cartridges” in an army order.^[2]
• 1868 – the sense “pattern for a garment”, in Barcianu's dictionary.^[3]
• 1875 – Antonescu's dictionary glosses the neuter patronu as French cartouche.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. A cartridge; a cylindrical stick of explosive for filling blasting holes in mines.^[1][13]
2. The porcelain body holding the wire of an electric fuse; bușon.^[1]
3. In the textile industry, a scheme showing how the threads are interlaced and in what order the work is done.^[1]
4. (rare) A pattern for cutting a garment; a design for a woven fabric.^[3][5]

patron² patron saint; employer

Forms

patron m (plural patroni)^[14]

Etymology

The word for the patron saint and the employer is borrowed from Latin patrōnus (“protector, patron”), borrowed from German Patron, borrowed from French patron: DEX and the DLR give all three.^[1][2] Tiktin takes it from New Latin, Scriban from Latin, Ciorănescu and Wiktionary from French.^{[15][16][4][14]} The old variant patronoș comes from Hungarian patrónus.^[2][3]

The Latin word is formed on pater (“father”), with the ending of colōnus (“farmer, settler”).^[17][14] The inherited Romance forms are words like Italian padrone (“master”);^[18] the French word and Italian patrono are learned.^[18]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in a church document of 1695 printed in the Uricariul, where a patron feast is added to a church: „mai adauge acestei biserici un patron pe sărbătoarea Întâmpinării Domnului” “he also gives this church a patron, on the feast of the Presentation of the Lord”.^[2][15] MDA2 dates the same record before 1696.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The religious sense came first: the saint protecting a person, a church or a community, and so a person's name day.^[2][3] In Transylvania in 1699 Constantin Brâncoveanu is called „patronoș adevărat al sfintei mitropolii” “true patron of the holy metropolitan see”, with the Hungarian form.^[2] By 1760 the word meant a protector in general: „ca unui bun stăpân și patron” “as to a good master and patron”.^[2] Negulici's dictionary of neologisms of 1848 glosses it as master, protector, and the saint whose name one received at baptism.^[19]

The sense “owner of a workshop or business, employer” is recorded by Șăineanu in 1929 and is the first sense in DEX.^[20][1] In regional speech a face patron is “to celebrate one's name day”, and the word can also mean a head of family or a village night watchman.^[3][2] A regional neuter patron means a party given for a name day.^[21]

Timeline

• 1695 – a patron feast of a church, in a document printed in the Uricariul.^[2][15]
• 1699 – the Hungarian form patronoș for Constantin Brâncoveanu as protector of the Transylvanian metropolitan see.^[2]
• 1760 – “protector” in a letter: „bun stăpân și patron”.^[2]
• 1825 – patronu with Latin patronus, fautor and German Gönner, Patron in the Lexicon de la Buda.^[22]
• 1848 – in Negulici's dictionary of neologisms.^[19]
• 1929 – “owner of a workshop”, in Șăineanu.^[20]

Meanings

Noun

1. The owner of a business; an employer.^[1][10]
2. In ancient Rome, a patrician in relation to his freedmen and clients.^[1]
3. A patron saint of a person, a guild or a community that bears his name; the day of that saint, celebrated as a name day; a protector.^[1][3]

Word family

• patroană
• patrona
• patronaj
• patronal
• patronat