English
fallacious
Fallacious comes from Latin fallācia ‘deception, deceit’, and goes back to fallō.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfallōas fallere‘to deceive, beguile, trick, cheat, delude, ensnare, disappoint’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEfallāx‘deceptive, deceitful’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEfallācia‘deception, deceit’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400fallacieux
- Englishearliest quotation 1941fallacious
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfallōas fallere‘to deceive, beguile, trick, cheat, delude, ensnare, disappoint’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEfallāx‘deceptive, deceitful’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEfallācia‘deception, deceit’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400fallacieux
- Englishearliest quotation 1941fallacious
Earliest quotation: 1941, George Ryley Scott, London: T. Werner Laurie: “There is a widely diffused notion that among all…”
Formed from -acious
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *(s)gʷʰh₂el- ‘to stumble’
through Proto-Italic *falsō
fail, default, falsely, falsetto, 6 more
through Latin fallō ‘to deceive, beguile, trick, cheat, delude,…’
failure, fault, false, faux, falsify, fallible, falsity, 9 more
Today it means
adj Characterized by fallacy; false or mistaken.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin fallō / fallacious