Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word
fatuus. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
fatuus, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
fatuus in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
fatuus you have here. The definition of the word
fatuus will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of
fatuus, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
Latin
Etymology
Uncertain. Maybe from dialectal Proto-Indo-European *bʰat-.[1] (See also battuō.) More likely, a derivative of *bʰeh₂- (“to speak”), particularly an abstract noun *bʰh₂-tu- (“speech”); thereby related to for.[2]
According to one hypothesis, Fatuus was an alternative name of the god Faunus, who predicted the future.
Pronunciation
Adjective
fatuus (feminine fatua, neuter fatuum); first/second-declension adjective
- foolish, silly, simple, stupid
- Synonyms: stultus, īnsipiēns, stupidus, āmēns, dēmēns, brūtus
- Antonyms: prūdēns, sapiēns, callidus, sollers
- Ego me ipsum stultum existimo, fatuum esse non opinor. ― I consider myself stupid, not silly.
- (of food) insipid, tasteless
- Synonyms: īnsulsus, īnsipidus, iners
- Ut sapiant fatuae, fabrorum prandia, betae. ― So that tasteless beets, the lunches of craftsmen, may have taste.
- awkward, clumsy, unwieldy
- Illa bipennem insulsam et fatuam dextra tenebat. ― She grasped an inelegant and unwieldy axe with her right hand.
Declension
First/second-declension adjective.
Noun
fatuus m (genitive fatuī, feminine fatua); second declension
- (derogatory) fool, simpleton, jester, buffoon, blockhead
- Synonyms: see Thesaurus:homo stultus
- Ita, rogo; paene effregisti, fatue, foribus cardines. ― I do so ask you; you fool, you've almost broken the hinges from off the door.
Declension
Second-declension noun.
Descendants
References
- ^ Roberts, Edward A. (2014) A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the Spanish Language with Families of Words based on Indo-European Roots, Xlibris Corporation, →ISBN
- ^ De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “fatuus”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 205
Further reading
- “fatuus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “fatuus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- fatuus in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
- fatuus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
- “fatuus”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers