# fable
## English
### Etymology

From Middle English, borrowed from Old French fable, from Latin fābula, from fārī (“to speak, say”) + -bula (“instrumental suffix”). See ban, and compare fabulous, fame. Doublet of fabula.

### Pronunciation

* enPR: fā′bəl, IPA: /ˈfeɪbəl/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Rhymes: -eɪbəl
* Hyphenation: fa‧ble

### Noun

fable (plural fables)
* A fictitious narrative intended to enforce some useful truth or precept, usually with animals, etc. as characters; an apologue. Prototypically, Aesop's Fables.
    Synonym: morality play
* Any story told to excite wonder; common talk; the theme of talk.
    Synonym: legend
** 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 Timothy 4:7, column 1:But refuſe prophane and olde wiues fables, and exerciſe thy ſelfe rather vnto godlineſſe.
** 1842, Alfred Tennyson, “The Gardener’s Daughter; or, The Pictures”, in Poems. […], volume II, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 19:[…] we grew / The fable of the city where we dwelt.
* Fiction; untruth; falsehood.
** 1712 January 13 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “WEDNESDAY, January 2, 1711–1712”, in The Spectator, number 264; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume III, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC, page 316:I say it would look like a fable to report that this gentleman gives away all which is the overplus of a great fortune by secret methods to other men.The spelling has been modernized.
* The plot, story, or connected series of events forming the subject of an epic or dramatic poem.
** 1695, John Dryden, A Parallel betwixt Painting and Poetry:For the moral (as Bossu observes,) is the first business of the poet, as being the groundwork of his instruction. This being formed, he contrives such a design, or fable, as may be most suitable to the moral;

#### Derived terms

* fabledom
* fablelike
* fablemaker
* fablemonger
* fablist
* fabulist
* have a fable for (may be etymologically unrelated)
* outfable
* personal fable
* semifable

#### Related terms

* fabulous (equivalent to fable +‎ -ous but actually derived from Latin fābulōsus (“celebrated in fable”))

#### Translations

    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

### Verb

fable (third-person singular simple present fables, present participle fabling, simple past and past participle fabled)
* (intransitive, archaic) To compose fables; hence, to write or speak fiction; to write or utter what is not true.
** 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii], page 111, column 2:He Fables not, I heare the enemie: / Out ſome light Horſemen, and peruſe their Wings.
** 1709, Mat[thew] Prior, “An Ode, Humbly Inscrib’d to the Queen”, in Poems on Several Occasions, London: […] Jacob Tonson […], →OCLC, stanza XVII, page 287:Vain now the Tales which fab’ling Poets tell, / That wav’ring Conqueſt ſtill deſires to rove; / In Marlbrô’s Camp the Goddeſs knows to dwell: / Long as the Hero’s Life remains her Love.
** 1852, Matthew Arnold, Empedocles on Etna, Act II, in Empedocles on Etna and Other Poems, London: B. Fellowes, p. 50,
    He fables, yet speaks truth.
* (transitive, archaic) To make up; to devise, and speak of, as true or real; to tell of falsely; to recount in the form of a fable.
    Synonyms: make up, invent, feign, devise
** 1667, John Milton, “Book VI”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 288–292:[…] erre not that ſo ſhall end / The ſtrife of Glorie: which we mean to win, / Or turn this Heav’n itſelf into the Hell / Thou fableſt […]
** 1691, “Cassandra, or, Divination”, in Arthur Gorges, transl., The Wisdom of the Ancients, London, translation of [De Sapientia Veterum] by Francis Bacon, page 1:THE Poets Fable, That Apollo being enamoured of Caſſandra, was by her many ſhifts and cunning ſlights ſtill deluded in his Deſire […]
** 1922 February, James Joyce, “[Episode 2: Nestor]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC, part I [Telemachia], page 24:Fabled by the daughters of memory. And yet it was in some way if not as memory fabled it. A phrase, then, of impatience, thud of Blake’s wings of excess.

#### Derived terms

* fabler

#### Translations
### Further reading

* “fable”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

### Anagrams

* befal

## French

Wikisource $^{fr}$

### Etymology

Inherited from Old French fable, borrowed from Latin fabula.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /fabl/
* Audio:(file)

### Noun

fable f (plural fables)
* fable, story
    Synonyms: conte, histoire

#### Related terms

* affabulation

#### Descendants

* → Turkish: fabl

### Further reading

* “fable”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

## Norwegian Bokmål
### Etymology

From the noun fabel, ultimately from Latin fabula, from fā(rī) (“to speak, say”) + -bula (“instrumental suffix”).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /fɑːblə/

### Verb

fable (imperative fabl or fable, present tense fabler, passive fables, simple past and past participle fabla or fablet)
* to fantasize, dream
    fable om suksess
       dream about success

#### Derived terms

* fabel

### References

* “fable” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

## Norwegian Nynorsk
### Etymology

From the noun fabel, ultimately from Latin fabula, from fā(rī) (“to speak, say”) + -bula (“instrumental suffix”).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /fɑːblə/

### Verb

fable (imperative fabl, present tense fablar, simple past and past participle fabla)
* to fantasize, dream
    fable om suksess
       dream about success
* to make up (something)

#### Derived terms

* fabel

### References

* “fable” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

## Old French
### Etymology

Borrowed from Latin fabula.

### Noun

fable oblique singular, f (oblique plural fables, nominative singular fable, nominative plural fables)
* fable, story
** c. 1250, Rutebeuf, Ci encoumence la lections d'ypocrisie et d'umilité:Ne vos wel faire longue fableI don't want to tell you a long story

#### Synonyms

* conte
* estoire

#### Descendants

* Middle French: fable
** French: fable
* → Middle Dutch: fabele
** Dutch: fabel
*** Afrikaans: fabel
*** → Indonesian: fabel
*** → Papiamentu: fabel (dated)
*** → West Frisian: fabel
* → Middle English: fable
** English: fable
* → Middle High German: fabele
** German: Fabel

## Spanish
### Verb

fable
* inflection of fablar:
** first/third-person singular present subjunctive
** third-person singular imperative