faitour

English

Alternative forms

• faitor
• faytor [14th–17th c.]
• fayter [15th–16th c.]

Etymology

From Middle English faitour, from Anglo-Norman faitour (cognate with Old French faitor (“doer, maker”), from Latin factor, factōrem, from facere (“do, make”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfeɪtə/

Noun

faitour (plural faitours)

1. (archaic) A charlatan or imposter, especially one pretending to be ill, or to tell fortunes.
   • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, chapter X, in Le Morte Darthur, book II:

     Allas sayd kynge Lot I am ashamed / for by my defaute ther is many a worshipful man slayne / for and we had ben to gyders there hadde ben none hooste vnder the heuen that had ben abel for to haue matched with vs / This fayter with his prophecye hath mocked me

     Alas, said King Lot, I am ashamed, for through my absence many a distinguished man has been slain, for if we had been together there would have been no host under heaven that could have matched us; this faitour has mocked me with his prophecy.

   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto IV”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     Into new woes vnweeting I was cast, / By this false faytor […].

   • 1969, Robert Nye, Tales I Told My Mother:

     Quick, now, little faitour. What do you want to know about Gondal?

Old French

Etymology

From Latin factor, from facere (“to do, to make”).

Noun

faitour oblique singular, m (oblique plural faitours, nominative singular faitours, nominative plural faitour)

1. a layabout (one who does nothing)

Descendants

• English: faitour

References

• faitour on the Anglo-Norman On-Line Hub