fatuus

Latin

From Proto-Italic *fātus, of uncertain origen. 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.

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.

	masculine	feminine	neuter	masculine	feminine	neuter
	singular			plural
nominative	fatuus	fatua	fatuum	fatuī	fatuae	fatua
genitive	fatuī	fatuae	fatuī	fatuōrum	fatuārum	fatuōrum
dative	fatuō	fatuae	fatuō	fatuīs
accusative	fatuum	fatuam	fatuum	fatuōs	fatuās	fatua
ablative	fatuō	fatuā	fatuō	fatuīs
vocative	fatue	fatua	fatuum	fatuī	fatuae	fatua

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.

^ 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