English
fame
Fame comes from Old French fame ‘celebrity, renown’, from Latin fāma ‘talk, rumor, report, reputation’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂- ‘to speak, say, tell’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰeh₂-1‘to speak, say, tell’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰéh₂meh₂1reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*fāmā1‘something said about another’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfāma1‘talk, rumor, report, reputation’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400fame1‘celebrity, renown’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500fame1
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1597fame1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English fame
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1597, William Shakespeare, The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]: “I find thou art no less than fame hath…”.
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰeh₂-Wiktionary, English fame‘to speak, say, tell’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰéh₂meh₂Wiktionary, English famereconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*fāmāWiktionary, English fame‘something said about another’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfāmaWiktionary, English fame‘talk, rumor, report, reputation’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400fameWiktionary, English fame‘celebrity, renown’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500fameWiktionary, English fame
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1597fameWiktionary, English fame. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1597, William Shakespeare, The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]: “I find thou art no less than fame hath…”
The story
Related also to Latin for (“speak, say”, verb), Old English bōian (‘to boast’), Old English bēn (‘prayer, request’), Old English bannan (‘to summon, command, proclaim’).
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂- ‘to speak, say, tell’
phone, focus, professor, fuel, ben, phase, ban, favourite, photographer, fantasy, favor, emphasis, profession, bee, abandon, fancy, fate, phenomenon, confession, fabulous, confess, phantom, symphony, fatal, beacon, fairy, beck, infant, boon, eff, bane, prophetic, epiphany, foyer, banish, buoy, profess, fab, bene, banal, 126 more
through Proto-Italic *fāmā ‘something said about another’
through Latin fāma ‘talk, rumor, report, reputation’
through Old French fame ‘celebrity, renown’
Today it means
noun Something said or reported; gossip, rumour.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “fame”. 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- / fame