facetiae

Forms

facētiae f pl (genitive facētiārum); first declension^[1][2]

Etymology

It is from Latin facētus (“witty, clever”) + -ia.^[1][2][3] The origin of the adjective is doubtful: the ancients derived it from faciō (“to do”), and the OLD thinks it may be connected with fax (“torch”).^[1] Wiktionary gives both that link and a derivation from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰweh₂k- (“to shine”), comparing Lithuanian žvakė (“candle”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Plautus,^[3] who has a woman whose heart is full of cleverness and guile, and a clever action.^[1][2]

Semantic evolution

In Plautus it is cleverness or skill, or a clever action;^[1][2] Velleius Paterculus uses it of the elegance of the Latin wit of Caecilius and Terence.^[1] From Cicero on it is above all wit, witty sayings and pleasantry:^[1][2] in the Orator Cicero divides humour into two kinds, facētiae and dicācitās.^[1] Tacitus has biting witticisms, asperae facētiae.^[5] The singular facētia means a joke or witty remark in Plautus, who has the jest that two rivals love each other, and later in Caelius Aurelianus, Gellius and Apuleius.^[2][5][1]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of cleverness and of a joke.^[1][3]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of wit as one kind of humour.^[1][2]
• c. 20 BC–30 AD – Velleius Paterculus of the wit of Caecilius and Terence.^[1]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus of biting witticisms.^[5]
• c. 165 AD – Gellius in the singular.^[2][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. Cleverness, skill; a clever action.^[1][2]
2. Cleverness or aptness of expression.^[1]
3. Wit, pleasantry, humour; witty sayings, jokes.^[1][2][5]
4. (singular facētia) A joke, witticism.^[1][2][5]

Related words

• facētus
• English facetious

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
5. ^ a b c d e f Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn