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fatuus

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word fatuus

Confidence
Uncertain
First attested
c. 250–184 BC, Plautus

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈfa.tu.ʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈfaː.tu.us][1]

Forms

fatuus (feminine fatua, neuter fatuum, adverb fatuē); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

The origin is uncertain; the OLD marks it as doubtful.[2] De Vaan notes that it looks like a derivative of a stem ⟨*fat-⟩, but that neither ⟨*fati-⟩ “exhaustion” nor ⟨*fato-⟩ “said” gives a clear meaning.[3] He tentatively connects it with for (“to speak”): Fātuus was another name of the prophesying god Faunus, and an Etruscan mirror shows him as an oracle, so the god's name may have come to be used for “silly”.[3] On this view it goes back to Proto-Italic *fatowo- (“of speech”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰh₂-tu- (“speech”), and Oscan fatuveís may be the same name.[3] Lewis & Short also link it with for, with an original meaning “garrulous”.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus has it first,[3][5] in a string of insults in the Bacchides: stulti, stolidi, fatui, “fools, dolts, idiots”.[2][4]

Semantic evolution

It is mentally feeble, silly or foolish.[2] Plautus also uses it as a noun, “you fool”, in the Amphitruo,[2] and Afranius has a speaker who thinks himself stupid but not a fatuus.[4] Cicero applies it to words, calling someone's first letters rather rabid and silly enough.[2] Of food it is tasteless or insipid, as Martial's figs.[2] Wiktionary also gives “awkward, clumsy”.[1] Church Latin keeps “foolish” and the noun “fool”.[6] English fatuous comes from it, first in the 1530s.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus, “fools, dolts, idiots”.[2][4][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero, of silly letters.[2][5]
  • 40–102/103 AD – Martial, of insipid figs.[2][5]
  • 1530s – Borrowed into English as fatuous.[7]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Foolish, silly, idiotic; of words and actions, silly.[2][4][1][6]
  2. Of food, tasteless, insipid.[2][1]
  3. Awkward, clumsy.[1]

Noun

  1. A fool, simpleton.[2][1][6]

Word family

  • fatuor
  • fatua
  • fatuitās
  • īnfatuō

Usage notes

With a capital, Fātuus is an oracular god, another name for Faunus, whose sister Fauna, who prophesied to women, was called Fātua.[2][4]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
Cite this entry

“Fatuus.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/fatuus. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

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