fascinatio

Forms

fascinātiō f (genitive fascinātiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin fascinō (“to bewitch”) + -tiō.^[2][3] The verb comes from fascinum (“evil spell”); de Vaan notes that if it is related to Ancient Greek βάσκανος (báskanos, “sorcerer, slanderer”), both would point to a loanword meaning “curse, spell” from an unknown third language.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Pliny the Elder uses it in the plural for spells: spitting wards them off, and the skin of a hyena's forehead resists them.^[3][5][6]

Semantic evolution

Gellius uses it of a deadly bewitching done with the eyes.^[3] The Vulgate has fascinatio nugacitatis obscurat bona, “the bewitchment of trifling darkens what is good”.^[3] In Medieval Latin it is witchcraft and magic,^[7][8] also the evil eye and a single spell.^[8] English borrowed it about 1600 for the act of bewitching.^[9]

Timeline

• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it for spells.^[3][6]
• c. 165 AD – Gellius uses it for bewitching with the eyes.^[3][6]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it figuratively.^[3][6]
• c. 1600 – English borrows it as fascination.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. The casting of a spell, bewitching; the evil eye.^[2][5][8]
2. (figurative) Bewitchment, fascination.^[3][10]
3. (Medieval Latin) Witchcraft, magic.^[7][8]

Related words

• English fascination

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
8. ^ a b c d Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson