fetish

fetish
\ \ [17] Fetish is a doublet of factitious: that is to say, the two words have a common origin, but have subsequently diverged widely. Both come ultimately from Latin factītiusmade by art’, an adjective derived from the past participle of faceredo, make’ (whence English effect, fact, fashion, among a host of other related words). Its Portuguese descendant, feitiço, was used as a noun meaning ‘charm, sorcery’. French took this over as fétiche and passed it on to English, where it was used in the concrete sense ‘charm, amulet’, particularly as worshipped by various West African peoples. ‘Object irrationally or obsessively venerated’ is a 19th-century semantic development.
\ \ Cf.EFFECT, FACT, FACTORY, FASHION

Word origins - 2ed. . 2005.

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  • fetish — fetish, talisman, charm, amulet are comparable when they designate an object believed to be endowed with the virtue of averting evil or of bringing good fortune. Fetish is applied to an object, either natural (as a snake or an animal s tooth or… …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • Fetish — may refer to:*Fetishism, the attribution of religious or mystical qualities to inanimate objects *Sexual fetishism, sexual attraction to materials and objects not conventionally viewed as being sexual in nature * Fetish (album) (1999), by Joan… …   Wikipedia

  • Fetish — kann verschiedene Bedeutungen haben die südafrikanische Band, siehe Fetish (Band) der Musiker DJ Fetish engl. Schreibweise für Sexueller Fetischismus Diese Seite ist eine Begriffsklärung zur Unterscheidung mehrerer …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • fetish — 1. Fetish, meaning ‘a thing evoking special respect’ (and more precise meanings in anthropology and psychology), is now pronounced fet ish. The word is a 17c adoption of French fétiche, and was originally an African object or amulet having… …   Modern English usage

  • fetish — 1610s, fatisso, from Port. feitiço charm, sorcery, from L. facticius made by art, from facere to make (see FACTITIOUS (Cf. factitious)). L. facticius in Spanish has become hechizo magic, witchcraft, sorcery. Probably introduced by Portuguese… …   Etymology dictionary

  • fetish — [n1] obsession bias, craze*, desire, fixation, golden calf*, idée fixe, leaning, luck, mania, partiality, penchant, periapt, predilection, prejudice, preoccupation, prepossession, proclivity, propensity, stimulant, thing*; concepts 529,689 fetish …   New thesaurus

  • fetish — [fet′ish; ] also [ fēt′ish] n. [Fr fétiche < Port feitiço, a charm, sorcery; orig. adj. < L facticius, made by art, FACTITIOUS] 1. any object believed by some person or group to have magic power 2. any thing or activity to which one is… …   English World dictionary

  • Fetish — Fe tish, n., Fetishism Fe tish*ism (? or ?; 277), n., Fetishistic Fe tish*is tic, a. See {Fetich}, n., {Fetichism}, n., {Fetichistic}, a. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • fetish — index compulsion (obsession), obsession Burton s Legal Thesaurus. William C. Burton. 2006 …   Law dictionary

  • fetish — /ingl. ˈfɛtɪʃ/ [vc. ingl. di orig. port., propr. «feticcio»] A s. m. inv. (psicol.) feticismo B agg. inv. (psicol.) feticista, feticistico …   Sinonimi e Contrari. Terza edizione

  • fetish — ► NOUN 1) an inanimate object worshipped for its supposed magical powers. 2) a form of sexual desire in which gratification is focused abnormally on an object, part of the body, or activity. 3) a course of action to which one has an excessive and …   English terms dictionary

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