fama

Forms

fama f (plural famas)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish fama, inherited from Latin fāma (“rumour, public opinion, renown”).^[2][3][1] Corominas considers it semi-learned: the Latin /f/ did not become /h/, the Latin sense is perfectly kept, and many of its set phrases were taken from Latin; most of its derivatives are plainly learned.^[2][1] The BDELC and the DLE treat it as taken from Latin.^[4][3]

The same Latin word is Portuguese fama, Catalan fama, Italian fama and Old French fame, which Corominas also takes as learned.^[2][5][6] Romanian faimă owes its ⟨i⟩ to infāmia.^[7]

The Latin noun belongs with for (“to speak”), fābula and fātum, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *bʰéh₂meh₂, from *bʰeh₂- (“to speak”); it is cognate with Ancient Greek φήμη (phḗmē, “talk, report”).^[8][1][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas finds the word first in the Glosas Emilianenses of the 10th century, then in the Disputa del alma y el cuerpo and Berceo.^[2][4] In the Disputa (c. 1201) the soul tells the body De ti lieuo mala fama “from you I carry a bad name”.^[10] The Fazienda de Ultra Mar (c. 1200) uses the phrase meter en fama mala “to give a bad name”.^[10][11]

Semantic evolution

From the start the word meant both the news or common talk about something and a person's reputation, good or bad.^[12][10] Covarrubias (1611) linked it to Greek and Latin words for speaking and described the ancient picture of Fame as a winged maiden with a trumpet.^[13] Autoridades (1732) recorded the legal formula pública voz y fama at the end of witnesses' statements and the proverb buena fama hurto encubre “a good name hides a theft”.^[14]

The Academy's dictionaries of the 19th century add cobra buena fama y échate a dormir and unos tienen la fama y otros cardan la lana.^[15] The modern dictionary puts first the state of being famous, a sense the older editions covered by “the common opinion of someone's excellence in a profession”.^[3][16] In Colombia fama is also a butcher's shop.^[17]

Timeline

• c. 950 – the Glosas Emilianenses, Corominas's first record.^[2]
• c. 1201 – the Disputa del alma y el cuerpo has mala fama.^[10]
• c. 1400 – afamar and afamado appear in the Cancionero de Baena;^[18] Berceo had used famado.^[2]
• 1438 – famoso is first recorded.^[4]
• 1529 – the first record from the Americas, echar fama “to spread a rumour”, in a letter from Mexico.^[18]
• 1611 – Covarrubias describes the allegorical figure of Fame.^[13]
• 1732 – Autoridades records pública voz y fama.^[14]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary first gives the etymology, from Latin fama.^[19]

Meanings

Noun

1. fame: the state of being famous: un cantante de fama internacional.^[3][1]
2. The opinion people have of someone or something, a reputation: Ese barrio tiene fama de tranquilo.^[3][1]
3. A good name, the good opinion people have of someone.^[3][20]
4. News or a rumour (rumor) spread about something.^[3]
5. (Colombia) A butcher's shop (carnicería).^[17]

Word family

• afamar
• afamado

Related words

• infamia
• fábula
• Latin fāma

Usage notes

Ser fama means “to be said, to be known”: es fama que….^[3] Common combinations are buena fama and mala fama.^[1][20]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 846
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. fama
4. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. fama
5. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. 1523
6. ^ Coromines, Joan (1980–2001), Diccionari etimològic i complementari de la llengua catalana, 10 vols., Barcelona: Curial / La Caixa (online ed., Institut d'Estudis Catalans 2024), p. 3, 872
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. fama
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. for
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. fāma
10. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. fama
11. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. fama
12. ^ Kasten, Lloyd A.; Nitti, John J.; Gago Jover, Francisco (2002–), Diccionario de la prosa castellana del Rey Alfonso X, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (electronic edition 2024), p. s.v. fama
13. ^ a b Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 830
14. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 3, 716
15. ^ Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 338
16. ^ Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. fama
17. ^ a b Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. fama
18. ^ a b Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, p. s.v. fama
19. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 487
20. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. fama