fascino

Forms

fascinō (present infinitive fascināre, perfect active fascināvī, supine fascinātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin fascinum (“evil spell, charm”) + -ō.^[2][3][4][1] Fascinum itself may be related to Ancient Greek βάσκανος (báskanos, “sorcerer, slanderer”); if so, de Vaan takes both to be loans from an unknown third language.^[5]

Ancient grammarians already linked the two: Gellius reports that Cloatius Verus explained the noun as a form of ⟨bascanum⟩ and the verb as a form of ⟨bascinare⟩.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Catullus,^[6][7] meaning to bewitch: an evil tongue is not to bewitch his kisses (nec mala fascinare lingua).^[6][8]

Semantic evolution

The spell was cast by the eye or the tongue:^[8] in Virgil a shepherd complains that some eye is bewitching his lambs.^[8][6] Pliny the Elder names remedies against those who bewitch.^[8]

Late writers explained it as harming by envy or by excessive praise, and Jerome glosses it with “envying”.^[3] The Vulgate asks the Galatians who has bewitched them.^[8] Italian fascinare continues it,^[3] and English fascinate comes from it through French fasciner.^[9]

Timeline

• 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus speaks of an evil tongue bewitching.^[6][7]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of an eye bewitching lambs.^[8][7]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder mentions remedies against those who bewitch.^[8][7]
• c. 165 AD – Gellius reports its ancient derivation from bascinare.^[3][7]
• c. 383–419/420 AD – Jerome explains it as envying.^[3][7]
• 1590s – English borrows fascinate through French.^[9]

Meanings

Verb

1. To cast a spell on, bewitch, especially with the evil eye or an evil tongue.^[2][8]
2. (Late Latin) To harm by envy or by excessive praise.^[3]

Word family

• effascinō
• fascinātiō
• fascinator

Related words

• English fascinate

References

1. ^ a b c d 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 Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b c d Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
8. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com