see
fame). Main modern sense of "to prohibit" is from O.N. cognate banna "curse, prohibit," and probably in part from O.Fr. ban, which meant "outlawry, banishment," among other things (see
banal) and was a borrowing from Germanic. The sense evolution in Germanic was from "speak" to "proclaim a threat" to (in O.N., Ger., etc.) "curse." The Germanic root, borrowed in Latin and French, has been productive: cf.
banish,
bandit,
contraband, etc. Banned in Boston dates from 1920s, in allusion to the excessive zeal and power of that city's Watch and Ward Society.
ban"governor of Croatia," from Serbo-Croat. ban "lord, master, ruler," from Pers. ban "prince, lord, chief, governor," related to Skt. pati "guards, protects." Hence banat "district governed by a ban," with Latinate suffix -atus. The Persian word got into Slavic perhaps via the Avars.
ban"edict of prohibition," from
ban (v.). O.E. (ge)bann meant "proclamation, summons, command."