fio

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈfiː.oː]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈfiː.o]^[1]

Forms

fīō (present infinitive fierī, perfect active factus sum); third conjugation, suppletive, semi-deponent, no future active participle, irregular long ī^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *fwije/o-, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *bʰh₂u-ie/o- (“to become”), a present of the root Proto-Indo-European *bʰuH- (“to grow, become”).^[2][1] Cognate with Oscan fiíet (“they become”) and Umbrian fuia (“may it be”), Old Irish biuu (“I am”) and Middle Welsh byðaf (“I am”), and perhaps Ancient Greek φύομαι (phúomai, “to grow”).^[2][3] The perfect fuī, now attached to sum, belongs to the same root.^[1] De Vaan explains the long /ī/ from a sequence *-u̯ie- in the third person forms, which then spread through the paradigm.^[2] It was originally an active verb with the infinitive fīere, which took the passive ending in fierī.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Livius Andronicus, who has a nonce perfect fītum.^[2] Köbler dates Livius Andronicus 280/260 to before 200 BC.^[4]

Semantic evolution

It served as the passive of faciō “to make, do”, so it meant to take place, happen, come about, to be made or produced, to be done, and to become.^[3][2] The question quid fit? meant “how are things going?”, and it was used of the result of a calculation, as Plautus asks whether something taken from great wealth makes more or less.^[3] Laws and agreements were said fierī when they were established.^[3]

The subjunctive fīat “let it be done”, used at the start of Medieval Latin proclamations and commands, became English fiat in the 1630s.^[5]

Timeline

• 280/260–before 200 BC – Livius Andronicus uses it.^[2][4]
• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of events and of a sum that results.^[3][4]
• 204–169 BC – Ennius has the active infinitive fīere.^[3][2][4]
• 1630s – English fiat is recorded.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To take place, happen, occur, (with ut) to come about that.^[3]
2. To result (from a calculation).^[3]
3. To be made or produced; to be instituted, established (of laws and agreements).^[3]
4. To be done, be prepared; to be given or made available.^[3]
5. To become.^[3][6]

Word family

• dēfīō
• effīō
• interfīō
• superfīō
• tabefio
• benefio
• calefio
• candefio
• dēsuēfīō
• fabrefio
• labefīō
• liquefio

Related words

• faciō
• fuī
• English fiat

Usage notes

It has no perfect system of its own, factus sum supplies it.^[1][6]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.