fatuus Latin · revision 33765

+ {{infobox|confidence=uncertain|attested=c. 250–184 BC, Plautus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈfa.tu.ʊs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈfaː.tu.us]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''fatuus''' (feminine fatua, neuter fatuum, adverb fatuē); first/second-declension adjective^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The origin is uncertain; the OLD marks it as doubtful.^(OLD 2012) 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.^(de Vaan 2008) He tentatively connects it with [[m|la|for|t=to speak]]: [[m|la|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”.^(de Vaan 2008) On this view it goes back to [[itc-pro|*fatowo-|t=of speech]], from [[ine-pro|*bʰh₂-tu-|t=speech]], and [[osc|fatuveís]] may be the same name.^(de Vaan 2008) Lewis & Short also link it with [[m|la|for]], with an original meaning “garrulous”.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Plautus has it first,^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010) in a string of insults in the ''Bacchides'': ''stulti, stolidi, fatui'', “fools, dolts, idiots”.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is mentally feeble, silly or foolish.^(OLD 2012) Plautus also uses it as a noun, “you fool”, in the ''Amphitruo'',^(OLD 2012) and Afranius has a speaker who thinks himself stupid but not a ''fatuus''.^(Lewis & Short 1879) Cicero applies it to words, calling someone's first letters rather rabid and silly enough.^(OLD 2012) Of food it is tasteless or insipid, as Martial's figs.^(OLD 2012) Wiktionary also gives “awkward, clumsy”.^(Wiktionary) Church Latin keeps “foolish” and the noun “fool”.^(Stelten 1995) English [[m|en|fatuous]] comes from it, first in the 1530s.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus, “fools, dolts, idiots”.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero, of silly letters.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 40–102/103 AD – Martial, of insipid figs.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1530s – Borrowed into English as [[m|en|fatuous]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # [[m|en|foolish|alt=Foolish]], [[m|en|silly]], idiotic; of words and actions, silly.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)^(Stelten 1995)

+ # Of food, tasteless, [[m|en|insipid]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Awkward, clumsy.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|fool]], simpleton.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[fatuor]]

+ * [[fatua]]

+ * [[fatuitās]]

+ * [[īnfatuō]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[for]]

+ * [[stultus]]

+ * [[stolidus]]

+ * [[en|fatuous]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ With a capital, ''Fātuus'' is an oracular god, another name for Faunus, whose sister Fauna, who prophesied to women, was called ''Fātua''.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}