fable meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

fable

noun

/ˈfeɪbəl/

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.

A fictitious narrative intended to enforce some useful truth or precept, usually with animals, etc. as characters; an apologue. Prototypically, Aesop's Fables.

Any story told to excite wonder; common talk; the theme of talk.

But refuſe prophane and olde wiues fables, and exerciſe thy ſelfe rather vnto godlineſſe.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 Timothy 4:7, column 1:
[…]we grew / The fable of the city where we dwelt.1842, Alfred Tennyson, “The Gardener’s Daughter; or, The Pictures”, in Poems. […], volume II, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 19:

Fiction; untruth; falsehood.

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.1712 January 12 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “TUESDAY, 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:

The plot, story, or connected series of events forming the subject of an epic or dramatic poem.

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;1695, John Dryden, A Parallel betwixt Painting and Poetry:

Derived terms: fabledom, fablelike, fablemaker, fablemonger, fablist, fabulist, fibble-fable, fible-fable, have a fable for, outfable, personal fable, semifable
Related terms: fabulous

fable

verb

Archaic To compose fables; hence, to write or speak fiction; to write or utter what is not true.

He Fables not, I heare the enemie: / Out ſome light Horſemen, and peruſe their Wings.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:
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.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:

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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.

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.

[…] 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 […]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:
THE Poets Fable, That Apollo being enamoured of Caſſandra, was by her many ſhifts and cunning ſlights ſtill deluded in his Deſire […]1691, “Cassandra, or, Divination”, in Arthur Gorges, transl., The Wisdom of the Ancients, London, translation of [De Sapientia Veterum] by Francis Bacon, page 1:

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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.1922 February, James Joyce, “[Episode 2: Nestor]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC, part I [Telemachia], page 24:

Derived terms: fabler