fada

Forms

fada f (plural fadas)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin fāta (“goddess of fate”), written Old Galician-Portuguese fada in the oldest texts.^[2][3][4][1] Cunha and Wiktionary explain the Latin word as the plural of fātum (“fate”), taken as a feminine noun.^[5][1] Nascentes cites an inscription of Diocletian's time that has the word in place of parca, which leaves no doubt about the sense of the popular form.^[6]

The same Latin word is Galician fada, Spanish hada, Catalan fada, Occitan fada, French fée and Italian fata.^[7][1] The Latin noun for “fate” is the neuter of the participle of for (“to speak”), so that it first meant “a prophetic utterance”.^[8][1] Wiktionary traces the verb to *fāōr and Proto-Indo-European *bʰéh₂ti (“to speak”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss and Cunha date the word to the 13th century.^[2][5] The oldest texts in Lorenzo's chronology use it for fate or destiny rather than for a supernatural woman: a cantiga d'escarnho of Martin Moxa has as nossas fadas / iradas / foron chegadas “our angry fates have come”, and the Crónica Geral calls a woman dona sem ventura et de maa fada “a lady without luck and of ill fate”.^[9][10]

Semantic evolution

The sense “fate” is still the normal one in Galician, which hardly knows fado, while in Portuguese it became rare.^[9] The supernatural women came in with the books of chivalry: Viterbo and Bluteau both say that their authors called women who worked magic and foretold the future fadas rather than witches.^[11][12] Garcia de Resende's chronicle of King John II describes triumphal arches with fadas who foretold the princess's fortune.^[9][13] The 16th-century dictionaries render the word with Latin Parca.^[14][15]

Morais (1813) still describes the fada as a woman given to magic who read the book of destinies, and adds that “there are no more such people today”.^[13] Vieira gives the sense “fate, destiny” as figurative, and Caldas Aulete has both the omen and the figurative “enchanting, beautiful woman”.^[16][17] Houaiss and Aurélio now mark the sense “omen, augury” as obsolete.^[2][4]

Timeline

• 13th century – first records, in the sense “fate”.^[2][5][9]
• c. 1543 – first record of the derivative fadário, spelt fadairo.^[18]
• 1569 – Cardoso's Portuguese–Latin dictionary renders Fada as Parca.^[14]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau explains the word as a name the books of chivalry gave to women who worked magic.^[12]
• 1798 – Viterbo's Elucidário records good and bad fadas as good and bad fortune.^[11]
• 1871–1874 – Vieira defines the fairy as an imaginary supernatural female being.^[16]

Meanings

Noun

1. A fairy: an imaginary female being with magic powers that can influence people's fate.^{[2][4][19][1]}
2. (obsolete) An omen, augury, good or bad presentiment.^[2][4]
3. (figurative) A woman of extraordinary beauty and charm.^[2][4][20]
4. (Portugal) A woman who does household tasks with great care and skill.^[20]

Word family

• fadário

Related words

• fado
• fadar
• fadado
• Latin fātum
• Galician fada
• Spanish hada

Usage notes

The phrase ter mãos de fada “to have fairy's hands” means to be very skilful at handwork.^[21] The old proverb cá e lá más fadas há “here and there are bad fates” says that misfortune is found everywhere.^[17]

Houaiss also records a masculine noun fada of the 20th century, a name of the Biafada language of Guinea-Bissau, shortened from biafada.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. fada
3. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. fada
4. ^ a b c d e Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. fada
5. ^ a b c Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. fada
6. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. s.v. fada
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 3219
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. fātum
9. ^ a b c d Instituto da Lingua Galega, Dicionario de dicionarios do galego medieval (DDGM), ed. Ernesto González Seoane, Santiago de Compostela: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, https://ilg.usc.gal/ddgm, p. s.v. fada
10. ^ Universo Cantigas: Glosario da poesía medieval profana galego-portuguesa, A Coruña: Instituto da Lingua e Literatura (ILLA), Universidade da Coruña, https://www.universocantigas.gal, p. s.v. fada
11. ^ a b Viterbo, Joaquim de Santa Rosa de (1798–1799), Elucidario das palavras, termos e frases que em Portugal antiguamente se usárão, 2 vols., Lisboa: Simão Thaddeo Ferreira, p. 1, 425
12. ^ a b Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. fada
13. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 4
14. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. fada
15. ^ Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. fada
16. ^ a b Vieira, Frei Domingos (1871–1874), Grande Diccionario Portuguez ou Thesouro da lingua portugueza, 5 vols., Porto: Ernesto Chardron e Bartholomeu H. de Moraes, p. 3, 556
17. ^ a b Aulete, Francisco Júlio Caldas, Dicionário contemporâneo da língua portuguesa (1st ed. 1881), online as Aulete Digital, Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, https://aulete.com.br, p. s.v. fada
18. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. fadário
19. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. fada
20. ^ a b Academia das Ciências de Lisboa, Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, revised online edition (2023–) of the Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa Contemporânea (2001), https://dicionario.acad-ciencias.pt, p. s.v. fada
21. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 4143