panto-comb. form

Etymology: < ancient Greek παντο- (with variants παντ-, πανθ-, before a vowel and an aspirate respectively), combining form of παντ- , πᾶς all (see pan- comb. form), already used in ancient Greek (where often interchangeable with παν- pan- comb. form) in forming adjectives and a few nouns used attributively, as πάνταρχος all-ruling (Sophocles), παντοδαπός of all kinds, παντοκράτωρ almighty (see Pantocrator n.), παντοκτίστης creator of all; in later Greek it became much more frequent.Attested earliest in the late 16th-cent. Latin loan pantomimus n. (compare also slightly later pantomime n. and adj.). Formations in English are found from the late 16th cent., apparently earliest in pantometer n., but are rare until the 19th cent. and are much less numerous than formations with the cognate pan- comb. form 1. Compare classical Latin panto- , French panto- (1564 in Middle French in an isolated formation (see panto-devil n. below); subsequently from the late 17th cent.), German panto- (formations in which are found from at least the first half of the 20th cent.). The form panta- is probably after ancient Greek πάντα , neuter plural of πᾶς . It appears first in the form pantagraph , first attested in the 18th cent. (see pantograph n.); in the 19th cent., variants in panta- were fairly common, especially in technical contexts, e.g. pantameter (see pantometer n.) and pantascope (see pantoscope n.), and two formations, pantacosm n. and pantagamy n., are recorded only in this form (see also pantatype n.). With the exception of pantagraph forms in panta- are very rare after the 19th cent. The position of the stress differs between compounds of panto- in accordance with the general stress patterns of English. Contrastive stress may also give rise contextually to primary stress on the first syllable of the prefix in compounds where the stress ordinarily falls elsewhere.