431: Patron and Patronize Feb 12, 2016

A patron is someone who provides money or other support to a person or cause, from Latin patronus meaning ‘protector of clients, defender,’ and is related to' pater‘ meaning father’. 'patronize' is a word from the 1580's, meaning "to act as a patron towards," and only around the early 18th century could it mean sense of "give regular business to" like the fatherly connotation. The reason for this is that Roman patrons, for example, were known to treat people horribly, as Juvenal says, "while he has mullet and lamprey, you have eel and pike fed on sewage"(Juvenal 5.92-106).