Pati (

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

: पति, 𐬯𐬙) is a title meaning "

master Master or masters may refer to: Ranks or titles * Ascended master, a term used in the Theosophical religious tradition to refer to spiritually enlightened beings who in past incarnations were ordinary humans *Grandmaster (chess), National Master ...

" or "

lord Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the peerage in the United Kingdom, or ar ...

". The word is in common usage in the Indian subcontinent today. Etymologically, the word derives from the

Indo-European language The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Dutch ...

family and finds references in various classical

Indo-Iranian languages The Indo-Iranian languages (also Indo-Iranic languages or Aryan languages) constitute the largest and southeasternmost extant branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family (with over 400 languages), predominantly spoken i ...

, including

Old Persian language Old or OLD may refer to: Places *Old, Baranya, Hungary *Old, Northamptonshire, England *Old Street station, a railway and tube station in London (station code OLD) *OLD, IATA code for Old Town Municipal Airport and Seaplane Base, Old Town, Mai ...

and

Avestan Avestan (), or historically Zend, is an umbrella term for two Old Iranian languages: Old Avestan (spoken in the 2nd millennium BCE) and Younger Avestan (spoken in the 1st millennium BCE). They are known only from their conjoined use as the scrip ...

. In modern-day Hindustani and other

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

n languages, ''pati'' and ''patni'' have taken on the meanings of ''husband'' and ''wife'' respectively when used as standalone words. The feminine equivalent in

Indo-Aryan languages The Indo-Aryan languages (or sometimes Indic languages) are a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages in the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family. As of the early 21st century, they have more than 800 million speakers, primarily ...

is ''patni'' (literally, "mistress" or "lady"). The term ''pati'' is frequently used as a suffix, e.g. ''lakhpati'' (meaning, master of a

lakh A lakh (; abbreviated L; sometimes written lac) is a unit in the Indian numbering system equal to one hundred thousand (100,000; scientific notation: 105). In the Indian 2,2,3 convention of digit grouping, it is written as 1,00,000. For ex ...

rupees).

Modern usage

*As a standalone term indicating husband, ''pati'' *In an official titles, e.g. ''Rashtra-pati'' (राष्ट्रपति, راشٹرپتی , National President), ''Sena-pati'' (सेनापति, سیناپتی , General of an Army, Master of an Army) *In adjectives, e.g. ''crore-pati'' (करोड़पति, کروڑپتی, rich, master of a

crore A crore (; abbreviated cr) denotes ten million (10,000,000 or 107 in scientific notation) and is equal to 100 lakh in the Indian numbering system. It is written as 1,00,00,000 with the local 2,2,3 style of digit group separators (one lakh is e ...

rupees), "lakh-pati" (लखपति, لکھپتی , rich person, master of a lakh Rupees). *As a descriptive term, e.g. ''dampati'' (married couple, master and mistress of the house) * In names and surnames. It has been in usage in names in the Indian subcontinent since ancient times. Eg. Ganapati or Ganapathy (गणपति, Gana+Pati. Lord of the people/group/multitudes/categorical system); Bhupathy ( Mahesh Bhupathy (भूपति, Bhu +Pati. Lord of the earth/soil)

Etymology and cognates

The term ''pati'' is believed to originate from the

Proto-Indo-European language Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. Its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-European languages. No direct record of Proto-Indo-E ...

. 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''). In Sanskrit, it is 'pat-' when uncompounded and meaning"husband" instrumental case p/atyā-; dative case p/atye-; genitive case ablative p/atyur-; locative case p/atyau-; But when meaning"lord, master", and in fine compositi or 'at the end of a compound' regularly inflected with exceptions; ) a master, owner, possessor, lord, ruler, sovereign etc. For example, in the Vedas, we come across words such as Brhas –pati, Praja – pati, Vachas –pati, Pasu – pati, Apam –pati, Bhu pati, Tridasa – pati and Nr - pati. Here the 'pati’' is suffix translated as “Lord of …………..” In several Indo-European languages, cognate terms exist in varying forms (often as a suffix), for instance in the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

word "despot" from the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

δεσ-πότης, meaning "''master, despot, lord, owner''." 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''. In Lithuanian, ''pats'' as a standalone word came to mean husband, himself (''patis'' in

Old Lithuanian Lithuanian ( ) is an Eastern Baltic language belonging to the Baltic branch of the Indo-European language family. It is the official language of Lithuania and one of the official languages of the European Union. There are about 2.8 milli ...

), as did ''pati'' in Hindi/ Hindustani.

Common usage

* Rashtrapati *

Pashupati Pashupati (Sanskrit ''Paśupati''; devanagari पशुपति ) is a Hindu deity and an incarnation of the Hindu god Shiva as "lord of the animals". Pashupati is mainly worshipped in Nepal and India. Pashupati is also the national deity of Ne ...

Ganapati Ganesha ( sa, गणेश, ), also known as Ganapati, Vinayaka, and Pillaiyar, is one of the best-known and most worshipped deities in the Hindu pantheon and is the Supreme God in Ganapatya sect. His image is found throughout India. Hindu de ...

Vāstoṣpati ' ( "house-protector", an inflected compound of ''vāstos'', the genitive of ''vāstu'' "house", and '' pati'' "lord") is a Rigvedic deity that presides over the foundation of a house or homestead, mentioned in Mandala 7.55 of the Rigveda. Some cla ...

* Vacaspati *

Brhaspati Brihaspati ( sa, बृहस्पति, ), also known as Guru, is a Hindu deity. In the ancient Vedic scriptures of Hinduism, Brihaspati is a deity associated with fire, and the word also refers to a rishi (sage) who counsels the devas (god ...

Ksetrapati ' (or ') "lord of the soil" is the name of a tutelary deity in the Rigveda ( RV 4.57, RV 7.35, RV 10.66) and Atharvaveda The Atharva Veda (, ' from ' and ''veda'', meaning "knowledge") is the "knowledge storehouse of ''atharvāṇas'', the ...

Chhatrapati Chhatrapati is a royal title from Sanskrit language.The word ‘Chhatrapati’ is a Sanskrit language compound word (tatpurusha in Sanskrit) of ''Chatra (umbrella), chhatra'' (''parasol'' or ''umbrella'') and ''pati'' (''master/lord/ruler''). Th ...

References

Titles in India Suffixes Hindustani language {{India-culture-stub