WFT- fatidic

23 July 2016

For the longest time I've avoided any expression that includes the word "fate" because I thought the concept of fate was tied to the pagan idea of “the fates”: the three robed women called "moirai" (apportioners) who wove the destiny of everyone.

Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Day for March 8th was a related word, fatidic:

: of or relating to prophecy

 

Hmmm… prophecy is found in Scripture. What else did they say?

As you might guess, fatidic is a relative of the word fate. The Latin word for fate is fatum, which literally means "what has been spoken." Fatum, in turn, comes from fari, meaning "to speak." In the eyes of the ancients, your fate was out of your hands—what happened was up to gods and demigods. Predicting your fate was a job for oracles and prophets. Fatidic is fatum combined with dicere, meaning "to say." That makes fatidic a relative of the word predict as well; the -dict of predict also comes from Latin dicere.

 

"Fatum"- what has been spoken.

While the pagan concept of three "fates" controlling our destiny is false, we have the assurance that G-d’s Word, once He has spoken, will hold firm forever.

 

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Last modified on 07 January 2017

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Yom Sh'lishi, 9 Adar II, 5784

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