fatuus

Latin

Etymology

Uncertain. Maybe from dialectal Proto-Indo-European *bʰat-. (See also battuō.) More likely, a derivative of *bʰeh₂- (“to speak”), particularly an abstract noun *bʰh₂-tu- (“speech”); thereby related to for.

According to one hypothesis, Fatuus was an alternative name of the god Faunus, who predicted the future.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈfa.tu.us/, [ˈfät̪uʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈfa.tu.us/, [ˈfäːt̪uːs]

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

   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

Related terms

• fatue
• ignis fatuus

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

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