pan

pan · noun, verb¹

1. Ancient Greekπᾰτᾰ́νη (pătắnē)
2. Latinpatina?
3. Latinpannabor.?
4. Proto-Germanic*pannǭ
5. Proto-West Germanic*pannā
6. Old Englishpanne
7. Middle Englishpanne
8. English todaypan

From Middle English panne, from Old English panne, from Proto-West Germanic *pannā, from Proto-Germanic *pannǭ. Further origin uncertain. Alois Walde firstly suggests that it might be from Late Latin panna, from Latin patina (“broad, shallow dish, pan, stewpan”), from Ancient Greek πατάνη (patánē, “kind of flat dish”), which is probably from Pre-Greek. But the sound shifting from /patina/ → /patna/ → /panna/ raises questions as -tn- to -nn- is rarely seen in Latin. The mainstream theory as of now (Friedrich Kluge, Julius Pokorny, Guus Kroonen) suggests that it is from Late Latin panna. But its sparse attestation only in the frontier inscriptions and not widespread in most Romance languages raises doubts among a few scholars (notably Michiel de Vaan), being skeptical about its origin, and open for any interpretations (Oxford English Dictionary). Vladmir Orel, in his work Albanian Etymological Dictionary, suggests that both Proto-Germanic *pannǭ and Late Latin panna could be from a non-IE Mediterranean substrate word, considering that classical Latin attestations are scarce and distributed in a specific region, and Proto-Germanic loanwords from non-IE substrates often include agricultural terms, seafaring vocabulary, or animal names. Although, this substrate hypothesis is controversial and most scholars remain skeptical about it. In either case of relationship to the Latin, the English word is a doublet of patina; see there for more doublets and further detail. Cognate with West Frisian panne, Saterland Frisian Ponne, Dutch pan, German Low German Panne, Pann, German Pfanne, Danish pande, Swedish panna, Icelandic panna.

pan · verb, noun²

Clipping of panorama.

pan · verb³

Of unknown origin.

pan · noun⁴

From Old English. See pane.

pan · adjective⁵

Clipping of pansexual or panromantic.

pan · noun⁶

Clipping of pantograph.

Pan · proper noun⁷

1. Ancient Greek · derived fromΠάν
2. Latin · derived fromPān
3. Middle English · inherited fromPan
4. English todayPan

From Middle English Pan, from Latin Pān, from Ancient Greek Πάν (Pán).

Pan · proper noun, noun⁸

1. Mandarin · borrowed from潘
2. English todayPan

Borrowed from Mandarin 潘.

Pan · proper noun⁹

Shortening.

Words from the same roots

First known use, by meaning

• from 1970s A loaf of bread; a pan-loaf.