fabulosus

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [faː.bʊˈɫoː.sʊs]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [fa.buˈlɔː.s̬us]^[1]

Forms

fābulōsus (feminine fābulōsa, neuter fābulōsum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from fābula “story, tale” with the suffix -ōsus.^[2][1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citation is from Horace, “celebrated in legend”: loca fābulōsus lambit Hydaspēs “places washed by the storied Hydaspes”.^[2][4] Köbler dates Horace 65–8 BC.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It meant celebrated in legend or story, as in Horace, and resembling an invented tale, incredible, as in Petronius; in Pliny the Elder it meant unhistorical, fictitious, mythical.^[2] Lewis & Short note it is poetic and post-Augustan.^[4]

It survives in Italian favoloso and Spanish fabuloso, and gave English fabulous in the early 15th century, “mythical, legendary”.^[1][3]

Timeline

• 65–8 BC – Horace uses it.^[2][5]
• before 66 AD – Petronius uses it of the incredible.^[2][5]
• early 15th century – English fabulous is recorded.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Famous in legend, storied.^[2]
2. Incredible, fabled.^[2]
3. Fictitious, mythical, fabulous.^[2]

Word family

• fābulōsitās

Related words

• fābula
• English fabulous

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de