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Origin and history of fiat

fiat(n.)

1630s, "authoritative sanction," from Latin fiat "let it be done" (used in the opening of Medieval Latin proclamations and commands), third person singular present subjunctive of fieri "be done, become, come into existence" (from PIE root *bheue- "to be, exist, grow"), used as passive of facere "to make, do." Meaning "a decree, command, order" is from 1750. In English the word also sometimes is a reference to fiat lux "let there be light" in Genesis i.3.

Dixitque Deus: Fiat lux. Et facta est lux. [Vulgate]

also from 1630s

Entries linking to fiat

fieri facias(n.)

writ concerning a sum awarded in judgment (often requiring seizure and sale of property for debt), Latin, literally "cause it to be done, cause to be made," the first words of the writ, from Latin fieri "to be made, come into being" (see fiat). Second word from facere "to do" (from PIE root *dhe- "to set, put").

*bheue-

*bheuə-, also *bheu-, Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to be, exist, grow."

It might form all or part of: Bauhaus; be; beam; Boer; bondage; boodle; boom (n.1) "long pole;" boor; booth; bound (adj.2) "ready to go;" bower; bowery; build; bumpkin; busk; bustle (v.) "be active;" byre; bylaw; Eisteddfod; Euphues; fiat; forebear; future; husband; imp; Monophysite; neighbor; neophyte; phyletic; phylo-; phylum; phylogeny; physic; physico-; physics; physio-; physique; -phyte; phyto-; symphysis.

It might form all or part of: Sanskrit bhavah "becoming," bhavati "becomes, happens," bhumih "earth, world;" Greek phyein "to bring forth, make grow," phytos, phyton "a plant," physis "growth, nature," phylon "tribe, class, race," phyle "tribe, clan;" Old English beon "be, exist, come to be, become, happen;" Old Church Slavonic byti "be," Greek phu- "become," Old Irish bi'u "I am," Lithuanian būti "to be," Russian byt' "to be."

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    decree
    "special ordinance or regulation promulgated by authority," early 14c., originally ecclesiastical, secular use is by late 14c., from Old French decre, variant of decret (12c., Modern French décret), from Latin decretum, neuter of decretus, past participle of decernere "to decree,
    edict
    late 15c., edycte; earlier edit (late 13c.), "proclamation having the force of law," from Old French edit, from Latin edictum "proclamation, ordinance, edict," neuter past participle of edicere "publish, proclaim," from assimilated form of ex "out, out of" (see ex-) + dicere "to
    order
    c. 1200, "body of persons living under a religious discipline," from Old French ordre "position, estate; rule, regulation; religious order" (11c.), from earlier ordene, from Latin ordinem (nominative ordo) "row, line, rank; series, pattern, arrangement, routine," originally "a ro
    creationism
    creationism in this sense as "The doctrine that matter and all things were created, substantially as they now exist, by the fiat...
    recede
    early 15c., receden, "to depart, go away," a sense now rare or obsolete; of things, "to move back, retreat, withdraw,"  from Old French receder and directly from Latin recedere "to go back, fall back; withdraw, depart, retire," from re- "back" (see re-) + cedere "to go" (fro
    proscription
    late 14c., proscripcioun, "decree of condemnation, outlawry, sentence of exile, the dooming of a citizen to death as a public enemy and confiscation of his goods," from Latin proscriptionem (nominative proscriptio) "a public notice (of sale); proscription, outlawry, confiscation,
    ban
    Old English bannan "to summon, command, proclaim," from Proto-Germanic *bannan "to speak publicly" (used in reference to various sorts of proclamations), "command; summon; outlaw, forbid" (source also of Old Frisian bonna "to order, command, proclaim," Old High German bannan "to
    nab
    "to catch (someone) by a sudden grasp, seize suddenly," 1680s, probably a variant of dialectal nap "to seize, catch, lay hold of" (1670s, now surviving only in kidnap), which possibly is from Scandinavian (compare Norwegian nappe, Swedish nappa "to catch, snatch;" Danish nappe "t
    bull
    "male of a bovine animal," c. 1200, bule, from Old Norse boli "bull, male of the domestic bovine," perhaps also from an Old English *bula, both from Proto-Germanic *bullon- (source also of Middle Dutch bulle, Dutch bul, German Bulle), perhaps from a Germanic verbal stem meaning "
    act
    late 14c., "a thing done," from Latin actus "a doing; a driving, impulse, a setting in motion; a part in a play," and actum "a thing done" (originally a legal term), both from agere "to set in motion, drive, drive forward," hence "to do, perform," figuratively "incite to action;

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