fable
English edit
Etymology edit
From Middle English, borrowed from Old French fable, from Latin fābula, from fārī (“to speak, say”) + -bula (“instrumental suffix”). See ban, and compare fabulous, fame. Doublet of fabula.
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
fable (plural fables)
- A fictitious narrative intended to enforce some useful truth or precept, usually with animals, etc. as characters; an apologue. Prototypically, Aesop's Fables.
- Synonym: morality play
- Any story told to excite wonder; common talk; the theme of talk.
- Synonym: legend
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 Timothy 4:7, column 1:
- But refuſe prophane and olde wiues fables, and exerciſe thy ſelfe rather vnto godlineſſe.
- 1842, Alfred Tennyson, “The Gardener’s Daughter; or, The Pictures”, in Poems. […], volume II, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 19:
- […] we grew / The fable of the city where we dwelt.
- Fiction; untruth; falsehood.
- 1712 January 13 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “WEDNESDAY, January 2, 1711–1712”, in The Spectator, number 264; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume III, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC, page 316:
- I say it would look like a fable to report that this gentleman gives away all which is the overplus of a great fortune by secret methods to other men.
- The plot, story, or connected series of events forming the subject of an epic or dramatic poem.
- 1695, John Dryden, A Parallel betwixt Painting and Poetry:
- For the moral (as Bossu observes,) is the first business of the poet, as being the groundwork of his instruction. This being formed, he contrives such a design, or fable, as may be most suitable to the moral;
Derived terms edit
- have a fable for (may be etymologically unrelated)
- personal fable
- fabulist
Related terms edit
- fabulous (equivalent to fable + -ous but actually derived from Latin fābulōsus (“celebrated in fable”))
Translations edit
fictitious narration to enforce some useful truth or precept
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story told to excite wonder
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fiction, untruth, falsehood
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
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Verb edit
fable (third-person singular simple present fables, present participle fabling, simple past and past participle fabled)
- (intransitive, archaic) To compose fables; hence, to write or speak fiction; to write or utter what is not true.
- 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii], page 111, column 2:
- He Fables not, I heare the enemie: / Out ſome light Horſemen, and peruſe their Wings.
- 1709, Mat[thew] Prior, “An Ode, Humbly Inscrib’d to the Queen”, in Poems on Several Occasions, 2nd edition, London: […] Jacob Tonson […], →OCLC, stanza XVII, page 287:
- Vain now the Tales which fab’ling Poets tell, / That wav’ring Conqueſt ſtill deſires to rove; / In Marlbrô’s Camp the Goddeſs knows to dwell: / Long as the Hero’s Life remains her Love.
- 1852, Matthew Arnold, Empedocles on Etna, Act II, in Empedocles on Etna and Other Poems, London: B. Fellowes, p. 50,[1]
- He fables, yet speaks truth.
- (transitive, archaic) To make up; to devise, and speak of, as true or real; to tell of falsely; to recount in the form of a fable.
- 1667, John Milton, “Book VI”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 288–292:
- […] erre not that ſo ſhall end / The ſtrife of Glorie: which we mean to win, / Or turn this Heav’n itſelf into the Hell / Thou fableſt […]
- 1691, “Cassandra, or, Divination”, in Arthur Gorges, transl., The Wisdom of the Ancients, London, translation of [De Sapientia Veterum] by Francis Bacon, page 1:
- THE Poets Fable, That Apollo being enamoured of Caſſandra, was by her many ſhifts and cunning ſlights ſtill deluded in his Deſire […]
- 1922 February, James Joyce, “[Episode 2: Nestor]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC, part I [Telemachia], page 24:
- Fabled by the daughters of memory. And yet it was in some way if not as memory fabled it. A phrase, then, of impatience, thud of Blake’s wings of excess.
Derived terms edit
Translations edit
compose fables
tell of falsely
Further reading edit
- “fable”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
Anagrams edit
French edit
Etymology edit
Inherited from Old French fable, borrowed from Latin fabula.
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
fable f (plural fables)
Related terms edit
Descendants edit
- → Turkish: fabl
Further reading edit
- “fable”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Norwegian Bokmål edit
Etymology edit
From the noun fabel, ultimately from Latin fabula, from fā(rī) (“to speak, say”) + -bula (“instrumental suffix”).
Pronunciation edit
Verb edit
fable (imperative fabl or fable, present tense fabler, passive fables, simple past and past participle fabla or fablet)
Derived terms edit
References edit
- “fable” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
Norwegian Nynorsk edit
Etymology edit
From the noun fabel, ultimately from Latin fabula, from fā(rī) (“to speak, say”) + -bula (“instrumental suffix”).
Pronunciation edit
Verb edit
fable (imperative fabl, present tense fablar, simple past and past participle fabla)
Derived terms edit
References edit
- “fable” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.
Old French edit
Etymology edit
Noun edit
fable oblique singular, f (oblique plural fables, nominative singular fable, nominative plural fables)
- fable, story
- c. 1250, Rutebeuf, Ci encoumence la lections d'ypocrisie et d'umilité:
- Ne vos wel faire longue fable
- I don't want to tell you a long story