fanatique

Forms

fanatique (plural fanatiques)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin fānāticus (“inspired, filled with enthusiasm, frenzied”),^[2][3][1] first used by Rabelais in 1532.^[4][3][5] The Latin adjective properly meant “of the temple”, being a derivative of fānum (“temple, consecrated place”).^[3][6][4] It came to mean “inspired, raving” because the priests of Cybele, Bellona and Isis, who lived in the temples of these goddesses, gave themselves over to violent displays of ecstasy.^[3][6][5] Rey connects the Latin noun, which also lies behind profane, with an Italic root of religious meaning.^[4][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Rabelais (1532) it described a person who believes himself inspired by the divine spirit.^[4][3][5] The TLFi's first quotation, from Rabelais's Cinquième Livre (1564), says of Bacchus that he is de cerveau phanatique, seized with poetic frenzy.^[2]

Semantic evolution

From 1580, in Montaigne's Essais, the word described someone driven by blind zeal for a religion or a doctrine.^[2][4] Bloch and Wartburg date this modern sense to the 16th century and note that the older sense “divinely inspired” is still found in Voltaire.^[3] In 1764, again in Voltaire, it was extended to an enthusiastic, passionate admirer of anything.^[6][4]

The noun fanatisme (1688, Bossuet) followed the same development, and in the 18th century it was the word set against philosophie.^[4][3] Fanatiser first meant “to play the inspired one” (1752) and has had its modern sense since 1793.^[4] The familiar clipping fana (20th century) has only the sense “enthusiast”, though a word of that form was applied to royalists in 1793.^[4]

Timeline

• 1532 – Rabelais uses it of a person who believes himself divinely inspired.^[4][3]
• 1564 – The Cinquième Livre calls Bacchus de cerveau phanatique.^[2]
• 1580 – Montaigne uses it of blind zeal for a religion or doctrine.^[2][4]
• 1688 – Bossuet uses the derivative fanatisme.^[3][4]
• 1752 – Fanatiser appears.^[3][4]
• 1764 – Voltaire uses it for a passionate enthusiast.^[6][4]
• 1769 – The adverb fanatiquement is recorded.^[4]
• 1793 – Fana is used of royalists.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (archaic) Believing oneself inspired by the deity.^[8][2][9]
2. Driven by an unyielding faith and blind zeal for a religion, a doctrine or a person, and so intolerant.^[8][2]
3. Having an excessive passion or admiration for someone or something.^[8][6]

Noun

1. A fanatic, a zealot.^[8][1]
2. An ardent enthusiast of something.^[1][6]

Word family

• fanatiser
• fanatisme
• fanatiquement
• fana

Related words

• profane
• Latin fānāticus

Usage notes

In France the noun was applied in particular to the Protestants.^[9]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d e f Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 3, 409b
8. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette