fateor

From Proto-Italic *fatēōr, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂- (“to speak”); the stem fat- seemingly comes from Proto-Indo-European *bʰh₂-tó-s (“spoken”) (cognate with Ancient Greek φᾰτός (phătós)) or Proto-Indo-European *bʰh₂-t- (“who speaks”). Related to Latin for (“I speak, I say”), Latin fātum (“fate”), Latin fāma (“fame, reputation”), Ancient Greek φήμη (phḗmē, “talk”).

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key):
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key):

fateor (present infinitive fatērī or fatērier, perfect active fassus sum); second conjugation, deponent

1. to confess, admit

   Synonym: profiteor

   • 166 BCE, Publius Terentius Afer, Andria 896:

     PAMPHILUS: Ego mē amāre hanc fateor; sī id peccāre est, fateor id quoque.

     PAMPHILUS: I admit that I love her; if that is a sin, I admit that, too.

   • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid 4.20:

     “Anna, fatēbor enim, .”

     “Anna — yes, I will admit — .”

2. to acknowledge, own

   Synonym: agnōscō

3. to show, indicate

   Synonyms: praebeō, ostendō, ostentō, prōdō, indicō, expōnō, prōpōnō, prōferō, prōtrahō, acclārō, profiteor, vulgō, gerō, coarguō, praestō

¹The present passive infinitive in -ier is a rare poetic form which is attested.

• “fateor”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “fateor”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• fateor in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co.
  • I admit it, say on: audio, fateor