Pati (title)
Pati (Hindustani: पति, پتی) is a title meaning "master" or "lord" in various Indo-Iranian languages, including Sanskrit, Hindustani, Old Persian language and Avestan.[1] The feminine equivalent in Indo-Aryan languages is patni (literally, "mistress" or "lady"). The term pati is frequently used as a suffix, e.g. lakhpati (meaning, master of a lakh rupees).[2] In modern-day Hindustani and other Indian, Nepalese and Bangladeshi languages, pati and patni have taken on the meanings of husband and wife respectively when used as standalone words.[2]
Pati is also a surname of the Oriya Brahmin community. A person of the state of Odisha, India with the surname Pati is likely to be a Brahmin, and similarly for the names Padhi, Senapati, Pani, Panigrahi, among others.
Modern usage
- As a standalone term indicating husband, pati
- In an official title, e.g. rashtra-pati (national president), sena-pati (general, master of an army/sena)
- In adjectives, e.g. kror-pati (करोड़पति, کروڑپتی, rich, master of a crore rupees)
- As a descriptive term, e.g. dampati (married couple, master and mistress of the house)
Etymology and cognates
The term pati is believed to originate from the Proto-Indo-European language.[3] Older Persian languages, such as Avestan, use the term pati or paiti as a title extensively, e.g. dmana-paiti (master of the house, similar to Sanskrit dam-pati).[1][3] In several Indo-European languages, cognate terms exist in varying forms (often as a suffix), for instance in the English word "despot" from the Greek δεσ-πότης, meaning "master, despot, lord, owner."[1] In Latin, the term changed meaning from master to able, and is "an example of a substantive coming to be used as an adjective," resulting in English words such as potent, potential and potentate.[4] In Lithuanian, pats as a standalone word came to mean husband, himself (patis in Old Lithuanian), as did pati in Hindustani.[4]
Common usage
References
- 1 2 3 Roger D. Woodard, Indo-European sacred space: Vedic and Roman cult, University of Illinois Press, 2006, ISBN 978-0-252-02988-2,
... in Iran ... dmana-paiti, the vis-paiti, the zantu-paiti, and the dahyu-paiti ... Vedic dam-pati- 'master of the house', cognate to Avestan dmana-paiti, Greek preserves δεσ-πότης 'master, despot, lord, owner'; the Avestan vis-paiti finds his etymological counterpart not only in Vedia vis-pati- 'chief of the settlement, lord of the house', but in Lithuanian vies-pats 'lord' ...
- 1 2 John T. Platts, A Dictionary Of Urdu, Classical Hindi And English, Kessinger Publishing, 2004, ISBN 978-0-7661-9231-7,
... lakh-pati, or lakh-patl, or lakh-pat, sm Owner of a lac (of rupees), a millionaire ...
- 1 2 Benjamin W. Fortson, Indo-European Language and Culture: An Introduction, John Wiley and Sons, 2009, ISBN 978-1-4051-8896-8,
... 'lord of the house' < Indo-Ir. *dams pati-, PIE *dems potis ...
- 1 2 Peter Giles, A short manual of comparative philology for classical students, Macmillan and Co., 1895,
... in Lithuanian pats (older patis), which means husband or lord and is identical with the Greek , Skt. patis and Latin potis (no longer a substantive) ... The Latin form of this word - potis - gives us an example of a substantive coming to be used as an adjective. In the verb possum, a corruption of potis sum, the original sense 'I am master' has faded into the vaguer 'I am able' ...