fiction English · revision 5272

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1398|origins=la fictio}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ˈfɪk.ʃən/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|ficcioun]], [[bor|fro|ficcion|alt=fiction]] and directly from [[la|fictiō|t=a fashioning, feigning]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024) a noun of action from the past participle of fingere “to shape, form, devise, feign”, originally “to knead”,^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) from [[ine-pro|*dʰeyǵʰ-|alt=*dheigh-|t=to form, build]].^(Etymonline) It is related to [[feign]], [[figment]], [[fictitious]] and [[dough]].^(NODE 1998)^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Something imaginatively invented: 1398 in the OED, about 1412 in Barnhart, the early 15th century in Etymonline.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Feigning or deceit is from 1483, now obsolete.^(OED 1989) Prose works of the imagination are from the 1590s (1599 in the OED), at first often including plays and poems,^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) and the narrower sense, novels and short stories, is by the early 19th century.^(Etymonline) The legal sense, a ''fiction of law'', is from the 1580s.^(Etymonline) A single work of fiction, a novel, is from 1875.^(OED 1989) The AHD notes that “the latest fiction” now usually means the newest novels, not the latest lie.^(AHD) ''Fictional'' is from 1843 and ''fictitious'' from 1615.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1398 – something invented.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1483 – deceit.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1580s – a legal fiction.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1599 – imaginative literature.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1875 – a novel.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # Books and stories about imaginary people and events, especially [[novel]]s and short stories.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # Something invented or untrue.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(law)'' Something assumed to be true for legal purposes even if it is not.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[fictional]]

+ * [[fictionally]]

+ * [[fictionality]]

+ * [[fictioneer]]

+ * [[fictionist]]

+ * [[fictionize]]

+ * [[fictitious]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[feign]]

+ * [[figment]]

+ * [[dough]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}