Bann

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An old-fashioned public proclamation or formal announcement, especially one made in a church before a marriage
2. Archaic term for a public notice or summons, most often an announcement of an intended marriage read aloud in a parish
3. A formal public declaration of the kind once used to announce a forthcoming wedding or to summon people to something

Etymology: In Irish legend, the river Bann in Northern Ireland was named for a goddess. The Irish "an Bhanna" means "the river goddess," built from "ban," meaning "woman," and "dia," meaning "goddess" or "deity." The river, Ireland's longest flowing entirely within the island's northern territory, carried her name into the language of the people who lived beside it. The English noun also has a second, unrelated source. It was borrowed from German "Bann," a word for proclamation, prohibition, or the area under a lord's authority. The two words share a form by coincidence rather than by descent, so the river name and the German loan developed on separate tracks.

Synonyms: ban, proclamation, edict

Antonyms: permission