English
fastidious
Fastidious comes from Latin fastīdiōsus ‘passive: that feels disgust, disdainful,…’, and goes back to fastīdium.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfastīdium‘a loathing, aversion, disgust, niceness of taste, daintiness, etc’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEfastīdiōsus‘passive: that feels disgust, disdainful, scornful, fastidious’
- Englishearliest quotation 1897fastidious
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfastīdium‘a loathing, aversion, disgust, niceness of taste, daintiness, etc’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEfastīdiōsus‘passive: that feels disgust, disdainful, scornful, fastidious’
- Englishearliest quotation 1897fastidious
Earliest quotation: 1897, Kate Chopin: “It's burn[t], M'sieur," said Marie Louise, politely, but decidedly,…”
A compound of fastus ‘disdain, haughtiness, arrogance, disgust’ + taedium ‘disgust’
Proto-Indo-European *bʰers- ‘tip’
Proto-Indo-European *bʰérstus
Latin fastus ‘disdain, haughtiness, arrogance, disgust’
Latin taeter ‘foul, loathsome’
Latin taedeō ‘to be disgusted’
Latin taedium ‘disgust’
The story
Borrowed from Latin fastīdiōsus (‘passive: that feels disgust, disdainful, scornful, fastidious; active: that causes disgust, disgusting, loathsome’), from fastīdium (‘a loathing, aversion, disgust, niceness of taste, daintiness, etc.’), perhaps for *fastutidium, from fastus (‘disdain, haughtiness, arrogance, disgust’) + taedium (‘disgust’).
Every English word from Latin fastīdium
Today it means
adj Excessively particular, demanding, or fussy about details, especially about tidiness and cleanliness.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin fastīdium / fastidious