fateor

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈfa.te.ɔr]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈfaː.te.or]^[1]

Forms

fateor (present infinitive fatērī or fatērier, perfect active fassus sum); second conjugation, deponent^[1] Horace has the archaic infinitive faterier.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *fat-ē-, which de Vaan derives from Proto-Indo-European *bʰh₂-to- (“spoken”) and/or ⟨*-bʰh₂-t-⟩ “who speaks”, from the root of fārī “to speak”.^[3] Cognate with Oscan ⟨fatíum⟩ “to speak” and Ancient Greek φάτις (phátis, “report”).^[3][4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and the OLD have it from Plautus, “to admit”.^[3][4] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^[6]

Semantic evolution

It meant to accept as true, concede, admit, as in Cicero's sē peccāsse fatērī “to admit one's fault”; to say yes, assent; from Ovid to declare openly, profess; and in Livy to betray by one's behaviour, let appear.^[4][7]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it means to admit, confess, avow, show.^[8] Its compounds cōnfiteor and profiteor are older in the texts.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of admitting.^[4][6]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero has sē peccāsse fatērī.^[7][6]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of open profession.^[4][6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To admit, concede, acknowledge.^[4][2]
2. To profess, declare openly.^[4]
3. To assent.^[4]
4. To betray, let appear.^[4]

Word family

• cōnfiteor
• diffiteor
• inficior
• infiteor
• īnfitior
• profiteor

Related words

• for
• fās
• fāma
• fābula

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
8. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson