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factito

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word factito

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 250–184 BC, Plautus
Ultimate origin
Latin (faciō)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin facio
English surfeit
French affaire
French faire
French parfaire
French refaire
Latin reficio
Latin facilis
French facile
Latin factor
Latin officio
French officier
Latin facesso
Latin factus
Latin infectus
Latin officium
English office
Latin officiosus
Latin efficio
Latin efficax
Latin effectus
English effect
French effet
Latin factito

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈfak.tɪ.toː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈfak.ti.to][1]

Forms

factitō (present infinitive factitāre, perfect active factitāvī, supine factitātum); first conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin faciō (“to do, make”) + -itō, a frequentative.[2][3][1] Lewis & Short take it from factō.[4] De Vaan traces faciō to Proto-Italic *fak-i- and to Proto-Indo-European *dhh₁-k- (“to make”), from the root *dheh₁- (“to put”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's first citation is Plautus' Epidicus, where a speaker says it would be folly to blame someone for what he himself used to do in youth.[2][4]

Semantic evolution

It means to do something often or habitually:[2][4] Cicero writes of joining words in a way that not even the old Greeks practised, and of things often done among our ancestors.[4] It also means to practise as a profession: Cicero has Lycurgus making a profession of accusation at Athens, Quintilian medicine, Suetonius the collecting of money, Gellius the carrying of loads and Tacitus informing.[2][4] Of things it is to make habitually, as Pliny the Elder of garlands once made from melilot.[2] With a predicate it means to make someone something repeatedly: Cicero has a man whom another always openly named his heir.[2][4]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of what one did in youth.[2][4]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of practising accusation.[2][4]
  • c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian of practising medicine.[4]
  • c. 165 AD – Gellius of carrying loads.[4]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To do often or habitually, be in the habit of doing.[2][4][1]
  2. To make a profession of, practise (a trade).[2][4][1]
  3. To make habitually;[2][4] (with predicate) to make or declare repeatedly.[2][4]

Word family

  • factitatio
  • factitator

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
Cite this entry

“Factito.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/factito. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

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