Etymology
The word ban has entered the English language probably as a borrowing from South Slavic ban, meaning "lord, master; ruler". The Slavic word is probably borrowed from late Thracian *ban meaning "master (of a house)" (cf. Albanian bánë, banésë - "house", Romanian ban - nobility rank, Bănie, Banat - "region under the rule of bans"), that is an old indo-European root *pa- - "to protect" (see also Persian ban - "master").
Another assumption for the origin of the ban was a borrowing from a Turkic language, from the Avar word bajan meaning "ruler of the horde", a derivation of the Proto-Turkic root *bāj- "rich, noble". The term was also borrowed from a Turkic source into Mongolian, where it is preserved in a basically identical form to this day as bajan "rich".
South Slavic ban (, with a long ) is a result of the contraction from the earlier form bojan. The long form is directly attested in 10th-century Constantine Porphyrogenitus' book De Administrando Imperio as βο(ε)άνος, in a chapter dedicated to Croats and the organisation of their state, describing how their ban "has under his rule Krbava, Lika and Gacka". The 12th-century Byzantine historian John Kinnamos on the other hand already writes the title in its contracted form (μπάνος). Beside South Slavic, the contracted form can be also found in Hungarian bán and Romanian ban.
The word ban can also be found in toponymy, especially in its older possessive form in -jь: Banja Luka, Banj dvor, Banbrdo (from earlier *Banje brdo). The other possessive form in -ov- (banov) is used in modern literary Croatian. Other derivations of the word are present in toponyms such as Banovina, Banat and Banija, and common Croatian surnames such as Ban, Banac, Banić, Banović etc.
Read more about this topic: Ban (title)
Famous quotes containing the word etymology:
“The universal principle of etymology in all languages: words are carried over from bodies and from the properties of bodies to express the things of the mind and spirit. The order of ideas must follow the order of things.”
—Giambattista Vico (1688–1744)
“Semantically, taste is rich and confusing, its etymology as odd and interesting as that of “style.” But while style—deriving from the stylus or pointed rod which Roman scribes used to make marks on wax tablets—suggests activity, taste is more passive.... Etymologically, the word we use derives from the Old French, meaning touch or feel, a sense that is preserved in the current Italian word for a keyboard, tastiera.”
—Stephen Bayley, British historian, art critic. “Taste: The Story of an Idea,” Taste: The Secret Meaning of Things, Random House (1991)