English
fabulate
Fabulate comes from Latin fābulātus ‘having conversed’, from fābulor ‘to tell stories, chat’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂- ‘to speak’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰeh₂-1‘to speak’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰéh₂ti1‘to speak, to be talking’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*fāōr1‘to speak’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfor1
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfābula2‘narrative, conversation’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfābulor3‘to tell stories, chat’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfābulātus3‘having conversed’perfect active participle of fābulor
- Englishearliest quotation 1630fabulate3
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, Latin fabula
- 2 Wiktionary, Latin fabulor
- 3 Wiktionary, English fabulate
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1630, Thomas Adams, The Taming of the Tongve: “The Fort is ſo barricadoed, that it is hard…”.
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰeh₂-Wiktionary, Latin fabula‘to speak’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰéh₂tiWiktionary, Latin fabula‘to speak, to be talking’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*fāōrWiktionary, Latin fabula‘to speak’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEforWiktionary, Latin fabula
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfābulaWiktionary, Latin fabulor‘narrative, conversation’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfābulorWiktionary, English fabulate‘to tell stories, chat’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfābulātusWiktionary, English fabulate‘having conversed’perfect active participle of fābulor
- Englishearliest quotation 1630fabulateWiktionary, English fabulate. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1630, Thomas Adams, The Taming of the Tongve: “The Fort is ſo barricadoed, that it is hard…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂- ‘to speak’
phone, focus, professor, fuel, ben, famous, phase, ban, favor, fantasy, photographer, favourite, emphasis, fancy, phenomenon, profession, fame, bee, confession, fairy, abandon, confess, infant, phantom, symphony, beacon, beck, fatal, fate, boon, bane, epiphany, foyer, banish, fay, profess, bene, banal, nefarious, buoy, 122 more
through Proto-Indo-European *bʰéh₂ti ‘to speak, to be talking’
through Latin for
eff, affable, ineffable, 12 more
through Latin fābula ‘narrative, conversation’
Today it means
verb To tell invented stories, often those that involve fantasy, such as fables.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “fabulate”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin fabula, Latin fabulor. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂- / fabulate