Etymologically
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facetiae

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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]

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