infatuo

Forms

īnfatuō (present infinitive īnfatuāre, perfect active īnfatuāvī, supine īnfatuātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin in- + fatuus (“foolish”), a verb in ⟨-āre⟩.^[2][3] De Vaan tentatively derives fatuus from for (“to say”), through Proto-Italic *fatowo- (“of speech”): Fatuus was another name of the god Faunus, who foretold the future, and his name would then have come to be used disparagingly for “silly”.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL finds it from Cicero on.^[3] In the Philippics Cicero uses it of making fools of people with public pay, mercēde pūblicā.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

It means to make a fool of, to infatuate.^[2][6] The Bellum Africum uses it of deluding with words, and Seneca writes that flattery makes a fool of everyone in his own measure.^[5][6] The TLL notes that it becomes more frequent from the Itala on.^[3]

In the Itala's version of Matthew it is used of salt that has lost its savour, sī sal infatuātum fuerit,^[7] and Jerome too speaks of salt made tasteless.^[6] The Vulgate uses it of turning a man's counsel to foolishness, and Jerome of a man besotted with the love of women.^[5]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of fooling people with public pay.^[5][8]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of the effect of flattery.^[5][8]
• after 220 AD – The Itala uses it of salt that has lost its taste.^[7][8]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it of counsel turned to folly.^[5][8]

Meanings

Verb

1. To make a fool of, infatuate.^[2][6]
2. (Late Latin) To make insipid, deprive of taste.^[6][7]
3. (Late Latin) To turn counsel into folly.^[5]

Related words

• fatuus

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
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 d e f g Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
6. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de