fatuus

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

  1. 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.
  2. (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.
  3. 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.

Number Singular Plural
Case / Gender Masculine Feminine Neuter Masculine Feminine Neuter
Nominative fatuus fatua fatuum fatuī fatuae fatua
Genitive fatuī fatuae fatuī fatuōrum fatuārum fatuōrum
Dative fatuō fatuō fatuīs
Accusative fatuum fatuam fatuum fatuōs fatuās fatua
Ablative fatuō fatuā fatuō fatuīs
Vocative fatue fatua fatuum fatuī fatuae fatua

Noun

fatuus m (genitive fatuī, feminine fatua); second declension

  1. A fool, simpleton, a 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.

Case Singular Plural
Nominative fatuus fatuī
Genitive fatuī fatuōrum
Dative fatuō fatuīs
Accusative fatuum fatuōs
Ablative fatuō fatuīs
Vocative fatue fatuī

Descendants
Descendants of fatuus in other languages
  • Asturian: fato
  • Catalan: fat, fatu
  • English: fatuous
  • French: fade, fada, fat
  • Galician: fato
  • Italian: fatuo
  • Portuguese: fátuo, fatela
  • Spanish: fatuo

References
  1. Roberts, Edward A. (2014) A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the Spanish Language with Families of Words based on Indo-European Roots, Xlibris Corporation, →ISBN
  2. 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
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