• degen
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    1 month ago

    I was wondering if “fanatic” ironically could have come from the French language. Looking at the etymology I’m now wondering if “fanum tax” stems from Latin.

    • Dasus@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      https://www.etymonline.com/word/fan

      “devotee,” 1889, American English, originally of baseball enthusiasts, probably a shortening of fanatic, but it may be influenced by the fancy, a collective term for followers of a certain hobby or sport (especially boxing); see fancy (n.). There is an isolated use from 1682, but the modern word likely is a late 19c. formation. Fan mail attested from 1920, in a Hollywood context; Fan club attested by 1930.

      Looking up etymologies always teaches something new. Now I can’t stop thinking of “fans” as “fanciers” basically.

    • BotCheese@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      From what i recall fanum is a dude on twitch, who would take bites of other people’s food or something like that, thus it became called the fanum tax.

      • degen
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        1 month ago

        Yeah, I saw that synopsis under the knowyourmeme result lol. There’s always that one friend/relative. Kind of funny there’s never really been a phrase for it before.

        Still, I like the thought of it meaning everyone has that one food they really like and will steal a bite if anyone gets it.