Etymology
1. O.E.
panne, earlier
ponne (Mercian), from W.Gmc.
*panna (cf. O.N.
panna, O.Fris.
panne, O.L.G.
panna, O.H.G.
phanna, Ger.
pfanne), probably an early borrowing (4c. or 5c.) from V.L.
*patna, from L.
patina "shallow, pan, dish," from Gk.
patane "plate, dish," from PIE base
*pet- "to spread." Ir.
panna probably is from Eng., and Lith.
pana is from German. Used of pan-shaped parts of mechanical apparatus from c.1590, hence
flash in the pan, a fig. use from early firearms, where a pan held the priming (and the gunpowder might "flash," but no shot ensue). The verb meaning "criticize severely" is from 1911.
Pancake is c.1430; as symbol of flatness c.1600. To
pan out "turn out, succeed" (1868) is a fig. use of the lit. sense (1839) from panning for gold. To go
out of the pan into the fire (1596) is first found in Spenser.
2. Etymology tree
3. substratebor.?
4. Pre-Greekder.?
5. Ancient Greek πᾰτᾰ́νη (pătắnē)bor.
6. Latin patina?
7. Latin pannabor.?
8. Proto-Germanic *pannǭ
9. Proto-West Germanic *pannā
10. Old English panne
11. Middle English panne
12. English pan
13. From Middle English panne, from Old English panne, from Proto-West Germanic *pannā, from Proto-Germanic *pannǭ. Further origin uncertain.
14. 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.
15. 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).
16. 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.
17. In either case of relationship to the Latin, the English word is a doublet of patina; see there for more doublets and further detail.
18. Cognate with West Frisian panne, Saterland Frisian Ponne, Dutch pan, German Low German Panne, Pann, German Pfanne, Danish pande, Swedish panna, Icelandic panna. See: Frisian, Saterlandic 'Ponne', Danish '
pande', Swedish '
panna', Icelandic '
panna'.