Sunday, May 29, 2011

Today's Word "fetish"


fetish \FE-dish (US) or FE-tish (Britain) (noun) - 1 : An amulet or other artifact believed to have magical power to protect its owner; any object treated with superstitition or obsession; 2 : an extremely strong fixation.

"Wolfgang had a real fetish for fetishes, always keeping no more than five on his person, several in his vehicle, and boxes and cabinets full in his domicile."

From Portuguese feitico "witchcraft, sorcery". Portuguese later re-borrowed the English word "fetish" as fetiche, with the same meanings as in English: (a) a superstitious amulet and (b) a sexual fetish. "Feitico" devolved from Latin factitius "artificial, factitious" from the past participle of Latin facere "make, do," factum "made, done," also the source of English "fact," Portuguese "facto" (Brazilian "fato"), Spanish "hecho" and French "fait" (as in "fait accompli")

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