fate

Where does the word "fate" come from? It comes from Latin fata, and was adopted directly into English (1300s).

Fate’s story begins in Latin: fata meant “destinies.” Plural of fatum 'what has been spoken'; Rome's three Fates, the Parcae, spun, measured and cut the thread of each life. It reached English by 1300s as fate. Shakespeare's Cassius argues the opposite in Julius Caesar (1599): 'The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves'. Today, fate means the development of events beyond a person's control; destiny.

1. Stage 1 · Latin · classical fata "destinies", plural of fatum 'what has been spoken'; Rome's three Fates, the Parcae, spun, measured and cut the thread of each life.
2. Stage 2 · English · 1300s fate "destiny", Shakespeare's Cassius argues the opposite in Julius Caesar (1599): 'The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves'.