Etymologically
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fatidicus

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Forms

fātidicus (feminine fātidica, neuter fātidicum); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is a compound of fātum (“fate, destiny”) and the root of dīcō (“to say”), with the ending ⟨-dicus⟩.[2][1][3] fātum is the participle of for (“to speak”), which de Vaan traces to Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂- (“to speak”).[4] Varro explained that those who were wont to speak the future by foretelling it were called ⟨fātidicī⟩.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Varro and Cicero use it first;[5] Cicero in De natura deorum calls the Stoics' Providence a prophetic old woman.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

It means declaring destinies, prophetic.[2] It is used of gods and seers, as Virgil's prophetic seer, Ovid's Themis, and the prophetic god, Apollo,[3][2] and as a noun a soothsayer, as in Cicero's De legibus.[3] Suetonius has a prophetic girl and calls the Sibylline books the prophetic books.[3] It is also said of things: Pliny the Elder has thunderbolts that foretell a whole lifetime and a prophetic cave,[2][3] and the Hercules Oetaeus ascribed to Seneca a prophetic oak.[2]

Timeline

  • 116–27 BC – Varro explains the name.[3][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of a prophetic old woman.[2][5]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil of a prophetic seer.[2][3]
  • c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius of the Sibylline books.[3]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Declaring destinies, prophetic, oracular (of gods, seers or things).[2][3][1]
  2. (as a noun) A soothsayer, prophet;[2][3] Apollo.[2][3]

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  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 c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de