factum

English

Etymology

From Latin factum. See fact.

Noun

factum (plural facta or factums)

1. (law) Somebody's own act and deed.

   Fraud in the factum

   1. (law, civil law) Anything stated and made certain.
   2. (law) The due execution of a will, including everything necessary to its validity.
   3. (law, Canada) A statement of fact and law delivered before a court.
      • 2009 January 31, Isabel Teotonio, “Police mole trapped teen, court told”, in Toronto Star‎^[1]:

        But according to a factum filed by Crown prosecutors, Shaikh's status was "confidential informer," therefore RCMP did not direct him about what to do at the camp.

2. (mathematics, obsolete) A product (result of multiplying two numbers).

Related terms

• non est factum
• post factum

 

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “factum”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)

Latin

Etymology

Neuter perfect passive participle of faciō; neuter perfect active participle of fieri.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈfak.tum/, [ˈfäkt̪ʊ̃ˑ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈfak.tum/, [ˈfäkt̪um]

Noun

factum n (genitive factī); second declension

1. fact, deed, act, doing, work

   Synonyms: facinus, rēs, gestum, āctiō, commissum, coeptum, āctus

   bonum factum ― a good deed

   • 8 CE, Ovid, Fasti 2.117:

     dī pia facta vident

     The gods see pious deeds

2. exploit, feat, accomplishment, achievement
   • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid 4.109:

     [...] “Sī modo quod memorās factum fortūna sequātur.”

     [Venus replies to Juno:] “If only the feat that you are telling [me] about will be met by [good] fortune.”

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

	singular	plural
nominative	factum	facta
genitive	factī	factōrum
dative	factō	factīs
accusative	factum	facta
ablative	factō	factīs
vocative	factum	facta

Derived terms

• profectō.

Descendants

• Aromanian: faptu
• Asturian: fechu
• → Byzantine Greek: φάκτον (phákton)
  • → Old Georgian: ფაკტი (paḳṭi)
• Catalan: fet
• → Danish: faktum
• → English: fact, factum
• → Finnish: fakta
• Franco-Provençal: fêt
• Friulian: fat
• → German: Faktum
• → Hungarian: faktum
• Italian: fatto
• Occitan: fach
• Old French: fait
  • Anglo-Norman: fet
    • → Middle English:
      • English: feat
  • → Middle Dutch: feit
    • Dutch: feit
  • Middle French: fait
    • French: fait
• Old Galician-Portuguese: feito
  • Galician: feito
  • Portuguese: feito
• → Portuguese: facto, fato (Brazil)
• Romanian: fapt
• Romansch: fatg, fat
• → Russian: факт (fakt)
• Sardinian: fatu
• Sicilian: fattu
• Spanish: fecho, fecha, hecho, → facto
• → Swedish: faktum
• Venetan: fato
• Walloon: fwait
• → Welsh: ffaith

Verb

factum

1. accusative supine of faciō

Participle

factum

1. inflection of factus:
   1. nominative/accusative/vocative neuter singular
   2. accusative masculine singular

References

• “factum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “factum”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• factum in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• factum in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[2], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • (ambiguous) to have become independent, be no longer a minor: sui iuris factum esse
    
  • (ambiguous) he feels better: melius ei factum est
    
  • (ambiguous) to be born for a thing, endowed by nature for it: natum, factum esse ad aliquid (faciendum)
    
  • (ambiguous) to pass from myth to history: ut a fabulis ad facta veniamus
    
  • (ambiguous) a work of art: artis opus; opus arte factum or perfectum
    
  • (ambiguous) a master-piece of classical work: opus summo artificio[TR1] factum
    
  • (ambiguous) to be a born orator: natum, factum esse ad dicendum
    
  • (ambiguous) to make virtue the standard in every thought and act: omnia consilia et facta ad virtutem referre (Phil. 10. 10. 20)
    
  • (ambiguous) a good conscience: conscientia recta, recte facti (factorum), virtutis, bene actae vitae, rectae voluntatis
    
  • (ambiguous) to congratulate oneself on one's clear conscience: conscientia recte factorum erigi
    
  • (ambiguous) thought and deed: consilia et facta (cf. sect. X. 1, note For 'thoughts and deeds'...)
    
  • (ambiguous) silver plate: argentum (factum) (Verr. 5. 25. 63)
    
  • (ambiguous) the rate of interest has gone up from 4 per cent to 8 per cent: fenus ex triente Id. Quint. factum erat bessibus (Att. 4. 15. 7)
    
  • (ambiguous) to advance to the walls protected by a covering of shields: testudine facta moenia subire (B. G. 2. 6)
    
  • (ambiguous) after capitulation: deditione facta (Sall. Iug. 26)
    
  • (ambiguous) there was great slaughter of fugitives: magna caedes hostium fugientium facta est
    
  • (ambiguous) Asia was made subject to Rome: Asia populi Romani facta est