PAN – losy wyrazu

Abstract

The word pan which was attested already in Latin texts in the second half of the 13th century and which was borrowed by neighbouring languages as a title and an adressative form shared the history of the Polish people and state in the political, as well as cultural and social contexts. It was this very word that was immortalized in the title of the greatest work written in the Polish language – Pan Tadeusz by Adam Mickiewicz – and through numerous translations of this work the word entered world literature. Therefore one may consider the term pan as the most important Polish word.