Note 850 — OMPHI,

I cannot help thinking that the word πατηρ, pater, when used in the religious addresses of the Greeks and Romans, meant not, as is supposed, a father, or parent; but related to the divine influence of the Deity, called, by the people of the east, Pator, as I have [850]shewn. From hence I should infer, that two words, originally very distinct, have been rendered one and the [851]same. The word pater, in the common acceptation, might be applicable to Saturn; for he was supposed to have been the father of all the Gods, and was therefore so entitled by the antient poet Sulpitius.