fatal English · revision 7811

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

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ˈfeɪ.təl/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|fro|fatal]] or directly Latin [[m|la|fatalis|alt=fātālis|t=ordained by fate; destructive, deadly]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) from [[m|la|fatum|alt=fātum|t=fate]] (see [[fate]]).^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Decreed by fate, destined: about 1374–80, in Chaucer's translation of Boethius.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Fraught with destiny, fateful, is from about 1386.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline) Causing or attended with death is first recorded in Lydgate's ''Troy Book'' (before 1420),^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) and concerned with destiny from 1447.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline) Doomed is from 1509,^(OED 1989) and ominous, foreboding mischief, from 1590.^(OED 1989) Hoad dates the sense deadly to the 16th century and disastrous to the 17th.^(Hoad 1986) The original senses are now obsolete.^(Etymonline) ''Fatalist'' is from 1650 and ''fatalism'' from 1678.^(Barnhart 1988) In Suffolk dialect ''that's fatal'' meant that it was settled, as if by fate.^(Wright 1898)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1374 – destined.^(OED 1989)

+ * c. 1386 – fateful.^(OED 1989)

+ * before 1420 – deadly.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1447 – concerned with destiny.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1590 – ominous.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Causing or able to cause [[death]]: ''a fatal accident''.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # Causing ruin; [[disastrous]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # Decisively important; fateful.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # Decreed by fate; destined.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[fatalness]]

+ * [[fatalism]]

+ * [[fatality]]

+ * [[fatally]]

+ * [[nonfatal]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[fate]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}