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Origin and history of patent

patent(n.)

late 14c., "open letter or official document from some authority granting permission to do something; a licence granting an office, right, title, etc.," shortened from Anglo-French lettre patent (also in Medieval Latin litteræ patentes), literally "open letter" (late 13c.), from Old French patente "open," from Latin patentem (nominative patens) "open, lying open," present participle of patere "lie open, be open" (from PIE root *pete- "to spread").

The Letters Patent were ... written upon open sheets of parchment, with the Great Seal pendent at the bottom ... [while] the 'Litteræ Clausæ,' or Letters Close, ... being of a more private nature, and addressed to one or two individuals only, were closed or folded up and sealed on the outside. [S.R. Scargill-Bird, "A Guide to the Principal Classes of Documents at the Public Record Office," 1891]

Meaning "a licence granted by a government covering a new and useful invention, conferring exclusive right to exploit the invention for a specified term of years" is from 1580s.

also from late 14c.

patent(v.)

1670s, "to obtain right to land" by securing letters patent, from patent (n.). The meaning "obtain a copyright to an invention" is recorded by 1822, from the earlier meaning "obtain exclusive right or monopoly" (1789), a privilege granted by the Crown via letters patent. Related: Patented; patenting.

also from 1670s

patent(adj.)

late 14c., "granting a right, privilege, or power," in letters patent, literally "open letter" (see patent (n.)), from Old French patente "open," from Latin patentem (nominative patens) "open, lying open," present participle of patere "lie open, be open" (from PIE root *pete- "to spread"). The sense of "open to view, plain, clear" is recorded from c. 1500. As an adverb, "openly, publicly, unmistakably," mid-15c. Related: Patently.

also from late 14c.

Entries linking to patent

letter(n.1)

c. 1200, "graphic symbol, alphabetic sign, written character conveying information about sound in speech," from Old French letre "character, letter; missive, note," in plural, "literature, writing, learning" (10c., Modern French lettre), from Latin littera (also litera) "letter of the alphabet," also "an epistle, writing, document; literature, great books; science, learning;" a word of uncertain origin.

According to Watkins, perhaps via Etruscan from Greek diphthera "tablet" (with change of d- to l- as in lachrymose), from a hypothetical root *deph- "to stamp." In this sense it replaced Old English bocstæf, literally "book staff" (compare German Buchstabe "letter, character," from Old High German buohstab, from Proto-Germanic *bok-staba-m).

Latin littera also meant "a writing, document, record," and in plural litteræ "a letter, epistle, missive communication in writing," a sense passed through French and attested in English letter since early 13c. (replacing Old English ærendgewrit "written message," literally "errand-writing"). The Latin plural also meant "literature, books," and figuratively "learning, liberal education, schooling" (see letters).

The custom of giving the school letter as an achievement award in sports, attested by 1908, is said to have originated with University of Chicago football coach Amos Alonzo Stagg. Earlier in reference to colleges it meant "university degree or honor that adds initials to a name" (1888). Expression to the letter "precisely" is from 1520s (earlier after the letter, mid-14c.). Letter-quality (adj.) "suitable for (business) letters" is from 1977. For letters patent (with French word order) see patent (n.).

patency(n.)

"the state of being evident," 1650s, from patent (adj.) + abstract noun suffix -cy.

*pete-

*petə-, Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to spread."

It might form all or part of: compass; El Paso; expand; expanse; expansion; expansive; fathom; pace (n.); paella; pan (n.); pandiculation; pas; pass; passe; passim; passacaglia; passage; passenger; passport; paten; patent; patina; petal; spandrel; spawn.

It might also be the source of: Greek petannynai "to spread out," petalon "a leaf," patane "plate, dish;" Old Norse faðmr "embrace, bosom," Old English fæðm "embrace, bosom, fathom," Old Saxon fathmos "the outstretched arms."

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