fate English · revision 5723

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1374|origins=la fatum}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /feɪt/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|it|fato]], in Middle English, and later directly Latin fātum “that which is spoken, destiny”,^(Hoad 1986)^(SOED 2002) or through Old French fate.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024) Latin fātum, “a prophetic declaration, oracle”, was literally “thing spoken (by the gods)”, the neuter past participle of [[m|la|fārī|t=to speak]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Cresswell 2021) from PIE [[ine-pro|*bha-|t=to speak, tell, say]].^(Etymonline) The plural fāta also gave Spanish hado, Portuguese fado and Italian fato.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The power that predetermines events, and the predestined lot of a person: about 1374 in the OED, about 1385 in Barnhart, in Chaucer's ''Troilus and Criseyde''.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In Latin the word was often used in a bad sense, “ill fortune, death”.^(Etymonline) The Fates, the three goddesses of Greek and Roman myth who spun, measured and cut the thread of each life, are from 1590 in the OED,^(OED 1989)^(Cresswell 2021) and the final outcome of a person or thing, ''the fate of the expedition'', from 1768–74.^(OED 1989) Hoad notes the word was not common before the 16th century.^(Hoad 1986) The verb meant to destroy about 1400, and to preordain from 1601.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) ''Fateful'' is from 1715–20, in Pope's translation of the ''Iliad''.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1374 – the power that decides events.^(OED 1989)

+ * c. 1400 – the verb, to destroy.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1590 – the three Fates.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1601 – to preordain.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1715–20 – ''fateful''.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1768–74 – the final outcome.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The power believed to decide events in advance; [[destiny]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # What happens to a person or thing in the end, especially [[death]] or [[ruin]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(the Fates)'' In Greek and Roman [[mythology]], the three goddesses who controlled human lives.^(AHD)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # ''(usually passive)'' To destine: ''they were fated to meet''.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[fatal]]

+ * [[fatalism]]

+ * [[fatality]]

+ * [[fated]]

+ * [[fateful]]

+ * [[fate map]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[fable]]

+ * [[fame]]

+ * [[infant]]

+ * [[preface]]

+ * [[fairy]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ The AHD compares fate with destiny, kismet, lot and portion, nouns for what is bound to happen to a person; fate especially stresses the inevitability and often an unhappy end.^(AHD)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}