fame: [13] Etymologically, fame is ‘being talked about’. The word comes via Old French fame from Latin fāma ‘talk, reputation’. This in turn goes back ultimately to the Indo-European base *bha- ‘speak’, which also produced English confess, fable, fate, ineffable, etc. The derivatives famous and infamous are both 14thcentury acquisitions. => confess, fable, fairy, fate, ineffable, profess
fame (n.)
early 13c., "character attributed to someone;" late 13c., "celebrity, renown," from Old French fame "fame, reputation, renown, rumor" (12c.), from Latin fama "talk, rumor, report; reputation, public opinion; renown, good reputation," but also "ill-fame, scandal, reproach," from PIE root *bha- (2) "to speak, tell, say" (cognates: Sanskrit bhanati "speaks;" Latin fari "to say," fabula "narrative, account, tale, story;" Armenian ban, bay "word, term;" Old Church Slavonic bajati "to talk, tell;" Old English boian "to boast," ben "prayer, request;" Greek pheme "speech, voice, utterance, a speaking, talk," phone "voice, sound," phanai "to speak;" Old Irish bann "law").
The goddess Fama was the personification of rumor in Roman mythology. The Latin derivative fabulare was the colloquial word for "speak, talk" since the time of Plautus, whence Spanish hablar.
I've always been afraid I was going to tap the world on the shoulder for 20 years, and when it finally turned around I was going to forget what I had to say. [Tom Waits, "Playboy" magazine interview, March, 1988]
双语例句
1. Vivienne Westwood has scaled the heights of fashion's hall of fame.
薇薇恩·韦斯特伍德已成为时装界的翘楚。
来自柯林斯例句
2. Such roles are small beer compared with the fame she once enjoyed.
和她曾经享有的名气相比，这样的角色真的算不了什么。
来自柯林斯例句
3. At the height of his fame, his every word was valued.
在他声名鼎盛之时，他的每句话都受到重视。
来自柯林斯例句
4. Some people want fame or riches — I just wanted a baby.
有人希望得到名望，有人希望获得财富——我只想要个孩子。
来自柯林斯例句
5. Affleck catapulted to fame after picking up an Oscar.
