penates

See also: Penates and pénates

English

Etymology

From Latin Penātēs, from penus (“inner part of house”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /pəˈnɑːtiːz/
• (US) IPA^(key): /pəˈnɑtiz/, /pəˈneɪtiz/
• Rhymes: -eɪtiz

Noun

penates pl (plural only)

1. (Roman mythology) The household deities thought to watch over the houses and storerooms of ancient Rome.
   • 1646, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica, I.3:

     lest the name thereof being discovered unto their enemies, their Penates and Patronal Gods might be called forth by charms and incantations.

2. (figuratively) Synonym of household deities in other contexts.
   • 1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XII, in Romance and Reality. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 101:

     ...and a china shepherd and shepherdess, clothed in "a green and yellow melancholy," were the penates of the mantel-piece.

Derived terms

• lares and penates

Anagrams

• nepetas, pesante, septane

Latin

Etymology

From penus (“food provisions stored inside”) +‎ -ās. Originally an adjective chiefly used in the phrase dī penātēs "gods of the home". Compare penetrālia.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [pɛˈnaː.teːs]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [peˈnaː.t̪es]

Noun

penātēs m pl (genitive penātium); third declension

1. Roman guardian deities of the household
2. (metonymic) dwelling, home, hearth
3. the cells of bees

   Synonym: favī

4. a temple

Declension

Third-declension noun (i-stem), plural only.

	plural
nominative	penātēs
genitive	penātium
dative	penātibus
accusative	penātēs penātīs
ablative	penātibus
vocative	penātēs

Descendants

• English: penates
• French: pénates
• German: Penaten

References

• “penates”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “penates”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• penates in Georges, Karl Ernst; Georges, Heinrich (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th edition, volume 2, Hahnsche Buchhandlung

Spanish

Etymology

From Latin penātēs, from penus (“food provisions stored inside”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /peˈnates/ [peˈna.t̪es]
• Rhymes: -ates
• Syllabification: pe‧na‧tes

Noun

penates m pl (plural only)

1. Roman guardian deities of the household

Further reading

• “penates”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024