Etymologically
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fan

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /fæn/ (UK)[1]

Etymology

The word for an air-moving device is inherited from Middle English fanne, inherited from Old English fann (“winnowing basket or shovel”),[2][3][4] earlier fon,[2] borrowed from Latin vannus (“winnowing fan”),[2][3][4][5] perhaps related to ventus (“wind”) (see wind).[3][2] Old English had no letter v, hence the initial f.[3] The word for an enthusiast (1889, American English) is probably short for fanatic,[3][2][6][5] perhaps influenced by the fancy, a collective term for followers of a sport such as boxing.[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A basket or wooden shovel for winnowing grain by tossing it in the air, so that the lighter chaff blows away (a800).[7][3][2]

Semantic evolution

The winnowing fan of the Gospels (“whose fan is in his hand”) gave the word its first meaning.[8][9] About 1390, in Chaucer, it was first used of a device for moving the air to cool the face,[10][3] and the hand-held fan, a 16th-century introduction, is recorded from 1555.[7][3][9] Things shaped like an open fan, such as a bird's tail or a spread of light, were called fans from the late 16th century,[8] and the rotating bladed machine that drives air followed.[8][11] The verb, from Old English fannian, first meant to winnow grain (c. 1000);[2][7][3] to stir up air dates from the early 15th century,[3][2] and to strike out a batter in baseball from 1909.[3] The noun meaning a devotee began among American baseball followers;[3][12] an isolated use in 1682 (“loyal Phans”) is probably a separate shortening of fanatic.[3][12][8] The Latin source of fanatic, fānāticus, meant “of a temple” and hence “inspired by orgiastic rites, frantic”.[13][14] Compounds include fan mail (1920 in Etymonline, 1924 in Barnhart) and fan club (by 1930).[3][10]

Timeline

  • a800 – a winnowing basket.[7]
  • c. 1000 – as a verb, to winnow.[7][2]
  • about 1390 – a device for moving air (Chaucer).[10]
  • 1555 – a hand-held fan.[7][3]
  • 1682 – an isolated use for a fanatic.[3][7]
  • 1889 – an enthusiast (American English).[3][2]
  • 1909 – to strike out a batter.[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A device for creating a current of air, especially a machine with rotating blades driven by a motor.
  2. A folding or flat hand-held device, often wedge-shaped when open, waved to cool the face.
  3. Something shaped like an open fan, such as a bird's tail or a spread-out deposit of alluvium.
  4. A device for winnowing grain.
  5. An enthusiastic follower of a sport, performer, pastime or person; a devotee.

Verb

  1. To move air, or cool someone, with a fan or as if with one.
  2. To stir up or intensify, as a fire or feelings.
  3. To spread out in the shape of a fan (often with out).
  4. To winnow grain.
  5. (baseball) To strike out a batter, or to strike out.
  6. To fire a gun rapidly, as by striking the hammer with the palm.

Word family

  • fanlike
  • fanback
  • fanfold
  • fanjet
  • fanleaf
  • fanweed
  • fanwise
  • fanatic
  • fancy
  • winnow
  • vane
  • van
  • wind

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  5. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  10. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  11. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  12. ^ a b Cassell's Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins, London: Cassell
  13. ^ From Abracadabra to Zeus: Word Histories and Mysteries (2004), Boston: Houghton Mifflin (American Heritage Dictionaries)
  14. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press