Etymology of 'Fact': PH's Fact is Illusory
Posted: Mon May 15, 2023 10:06 am
An understanding of the etymology of 'fact' i.e. the original intended meaning will exposed why Peter Holmes', 'what is fact is illusory'.
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borrowed from Latin factum "deed, action, real event," noun derivative from neuter of factus, past participle of facere "to make, bring about, perform, do," going back to a suffixed form *dhh1-k-i̯e- (with perfect fēcī from *dheh1-k-) of Indo-European *dhh1-, dheh1- "put, place, make, do"
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fact
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It’s a fact that the Latin root word fact has ‘made’ many words in English; in point of fact, it even means ‘made’ or ‘done.’ Some common English words that come from fact include manufacture, artifact, and satisfaction. A very easy way to remember fact is the original idea behind the word factory, which is a place where products are ‘made.’
https://membean.com/rootcasts/fact-made/
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fact (n.)
1530s, "action, a thing performed, anything done, a deed," good or evil but in 16c.-17c. commonly "evil deed, crime;" from Latin factum "an event, occurrence, deed, achievement," in Medieval Latin also "state, condition, circumstance" (source also of Old French fait, Spanish hecho, Italian fatto), etymologically "a thing done," noun use of neuter of factus, past participle of facere "to do" (from PIE root *dhe- "to set, put").
An earlier adaptation of the Old French word that also became feat. The older senses are mostly obsolete but somewhat preserved in such phrases as after the fact, originally legal, "after the crime." Also compare matter-of-fact.
The modern, empirical, sense of "thing known to be true, a real state of things, what has really occurred or is actually the case," as distinguished from statement or belief, is from 1630s, from the notion of "something that has actually occurred."
The particular concept of the scientific, empirical fact ("a truth known by observation or authentic testimony") emerged in English 1660s, via Hooke, Boyle, etc., in The Royal Society, as part of the creation of the modern vocabulary of knowledge (along with theory, hypothesis, etc.); in early 18c. it was associated with the philosophical writings of Hume. Middle English thus lacked the noun and the idea of it; the closest expression being perhaps thing proved (c.1500).
Hence facts "real state of things;" in fact "in reality" (1707). By 1729, fact was being used of "something presented as a fact but which might be or is false."
By fact is also often meant a true statement, a truth, or truth in general ; but this seems to be a mere inexactness of language .... Fact, as being special, is sometimes opposed to truth, as being universal ; and in such cases there is an implication that facts are minute matters ascertained by research, and often inferior in their importance for the formation of general opinions, or for the general description of phenomena, to other matters which are of familiar experience. [Century Dictionary]
Facts of life is by 1854 as "the stark realities of existence;" by 1913 it had also acquired a more specific sense of "knowledge of human sexual functions." The alliterative pairing of facts and figures for "precise information" is by 1727.
Facts and Figures are the most stubborn Evidences; they neither yield to the most persuasive Eloquence, nor bend to the most imperious Authority. [Abel Boyer, "The Political State of Great Britain," 1727]
Facts are stubborn things is in an 1822 translation of the popular novel "Gil Blas" (earlier English translations have facts speak for themselves).
https://www.etymonline.com/word/fact
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As above,
the noun fact is a derivative from neuter of factus, past participle of facere "to make, bring about, perform, do,"
Giambattista Vico [1710] asserted “Verum ipsum factum” – the truth is the same as the made.
As such, fact [Vico's] as "the made" in this case refer to the making by humans.
We can see, the original 'fact' is grounded on human interventions and actions.
The modern version of "what is fact" as used by PH is a corrupted and bastardized terms which has no grounding at all other than linguistic consensus.
This is why I am claiming PH 'what is fact is illusory"
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=39577
PH has yet to counter my above claim.
PH: because what we call a fact is a feature of reality that is or was the case - a thing that has nothing to do with knowledge and the truth of a description.
If that is the case, then it is a mystical creature and woo woo.
If not, produce evidence that such a thing [your fact] exists as real.
.............
borrowed from Latin factum "deed, action, real event," noun derivative from neuter of factus, past participle of facere "to make, bring about, perform, do," going back to a suffixed form *dhh1-k-i̯e- (with perfect fēcī from *dheh1-k-) of Indo-European *dhh1-, dheh1- "put, place, make, do"
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fact
...................
It’s a fact that the Latin root word fact has ‘made’ many words in English; in point of fact, it even means ‘made’ or ‘done.’ Some common English words that come from fact include manufacture, artifact, and satisfaction. A very easy way to remember fact is the original idea behind the word factory, which is a place where products are ‘made.’
https://membean.com/rootcasts/fact-made/
...............
fact (n.)
1530s, "action, a thing performed, anything done, a deed," good or evil but in 16c.-17c. commonly "evil deed, crime;" from Latin factum "an event, occurrence, deed, achievement," in Medieval Latin also "state, condition, circumstance" (source also of Old French fait, Spanish hecho, Italian fatto), etymologically "a thing done," noun use of neuter of factus, past participle of facere "to do" (from PIE root *dhe- "to set, put").
An earlier adaptation of the Old French word that also became feat. The older senses are mostly obsolete but somewhat preserved in such phrases as after the fact, originally legal, "after the crime." Also compare matter-of-fact.
The modern, empirical, sense of "thing known to be true, a real state of things, what has really occurred or is actually the case," as distinguished from statement or belief, is from 1630s, from the notion of "something that has actually occurred."
The particular concept of the scientific, empirical fact ("a truth known by observation or authentic testimony") emerged in English 1660s, via Hooke, Boyle, etc., in The Royal Society, as part of the creation of the modern vocabulary of knowledge (along with theory, hypothesis, etc.); in early 18c. it was associated with the philosophical writings of Hume. Middle English thus lacked the noun and the idea of it; the closest expression being perhaps thing proved (c.1500).
Hence facts "real state of things;" in fact "in reality" (1707). By 1729, fact was being used of "something presented as a fact but which might be or is false."
By fact is also often meant a true statement, a truth, or truth in general ; but this seems to be a mere inexactness of language .... Fact, as being special, is sometimes opposed to truth, as being universal ; and in such cases there is an implication that facts are minute matters ascertained by research, and often inferior in their importance for the formation of general opinions, or for the general description of phenomena, to other matters which are of familiar experience. [Century Dictionary]
Facts of life is by 1854 as "the stark realities of existence;" by 1913 it had also acquired a more specific sense of "knowledge of human sexual functions." The alliterative pairing of facts and figures for "precise information" is by 1727.
Facts and Figures are the most stubborn Evidences; they neither yield to the most persuasive Eloquence, nor bend to the most imperious Authority. [Abel Boyer, "The Political State of Great Britain," 1727]
Facts are stubborn things is in an 1822 translation of the popular novel "Gil Blas" (earlier English translations have facts speak for themselves).
https://www.etymonline.com/word/fact
...................
As above,
the noun fact is a derivative from neuter of factus, past participle of facere "to make, bring about, perform, do,"
Giambattista Vico [1710] asserted “Verum ipsum factum” – the truth is the same as the made.
As such, fact [Vico's] as "the made" in this case refer to the making by humans.
We can see, the original 'fact' is grounded on human interventions and actions.
The modern version of "what is fact" as used by PH is a corrupted and bastardized terms which has no grounding at all other than linguistic consensus.
This is why I am claiming PH 'what is fact is illusory"
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=39577
PH has yet to counter my above claim.
PH: because what we call a fact is a feature of reality that is or was the case - a thing that has nothing to do with knowledge and the truth of a description.
If that is the case, then it is a mystical creature and woo woo.
If not, produce evidence that such a thing [your fact] exists as real.
