Fact (Hastings' Dictionary)

A 'fact' (Lat. factum) la any act or deed, good or bad i and thi« was the oonunonest 826 FAIN meaning of the word till abont the beginning of the present century. Thus Spenser, FQ I. iv. 34 — * But, when the furious fit was overpast, His cruel facta he often would repent.' Similarly Bunyan, PP (Clar. Pr. ed. p. 42), ' falling down upon his knees, he [Christian] asked God forgiveness for that his foolish fact.' So T. Adams, // Peter (Pur. Divines), p.

3, ' Theodosius excused a foul fact, because Da\id had done the like.' This is the meaning in 2 K 10 (headin") ' .lehu by liis letters causeth seventy of Ahab b children to be beheaded : he excuseth the fact by the prophecy of Elijah ' ; and 2 Mac 4* ' Certain of the Greeks that abhorred the fact also ' (Gr. ffufifutroTrouTjpoOvTtov Kal tCjv 'EXXiJi^wv, KV the Greeks also joining with them in hatred of the wicked- ness.' This is the only example of (rv/jL/j..

, though lwjOTrovTip(u is found 2 ftlac 4^^ [A -ei><j] 8*). The present use of ' fact ' for something that has actually occurred, an undeniable truth, though quite clas.sical lor factum, and belonging to all the Romanic equivalents (Fr.fait, It./atto, Sp. hecho), is not found in English before 1632. J. Hastings. FAIN is properly 'glad,' as Dyke, Worthy Commun. 56, 'Then full faine wilt thou be to have Christ Jesus receive thy soule' ; or ' gladly,' as Jn 12" Tind.

' Syr, we wolde fayne se Jesus.' But the commonest meaning has always been ' glad under the circumstances,' and that is its meaning in AV : Job 27-""^ ' he would fain flee out of his hand ' (nia; nn;, AVm ' in fleeing he would flee ') : 1 Mac 6" ' they were fain to disperse them- selves ' (((TKopTiad-naav, RV ' they were scattered ') ; Lk 15" ' he would fain have fiilled his belly witli the husks that the swine did eat ' (iveOviui.) Cf . Shaks. Lear, iv. vii.

38 — ' and wast thou fain, poor father. To hovel thee with swine, and rogues forlorn. In short and musty straw ? ' From this the word easily slipped into the sense of ' obliged,' ' compelled,' as in Pref. to A V ' he was fain to make this answer, I cannot [read the book] for it ifl sealed ' ; Is 1' Cov. ' Youre londe lieth waist . .

and ye must, be fayne to stonde and loke upon it ' ; and Defoe, Crusoe : ' When the tide was out, I got most of the pieces of cable ashore, and some of the iron, though with infinite labour ; for I was fain to go for it into the water, a work which fatigued me very much.' To the three examples in AV, RV adds two : Lk 13^' 'Herod wouJd fain kill thee' (flAei cc avoKTelvat ; AV ' will kill thee,' the tr° of all previous Eng. VSS [Wye.

' will slay thee ']) ; and Ac 21)^ ' With but little persuasion thou wouldest fain make me a Christian ' ('E>' 6\lytf /le ire/ffcis XpLffTumiy m^aat ; AV ' Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian,' following TR yeviadai for voi^crtu). The reading, nnrau or yttittmi, ia discussed in WH 'Select lieadings,' ad toe. The best ar^rument for wtiv^^i is ita ditH- culty ; to simplify the construcUon, yi*ir6a4 may have been taken in from the next verse.

The translation is, on either reading, nearly impossible. The AV is a combination of the Geneva NT (1557), * Almost thou pereuadest me to become a Christian,' and the Bishops', ' Som- what thou perswadest mo to be a Christian.' But it gives an unknown sense to i> ikjym, besides following the less probable yi»iftia4. The RV is new. and is got (1) by mentally supplying !•.

• (7) 'labour' after i> «'x<V« ; (2) by translating ridOui ' wouldest fain,' so as to bring out the sense, which it certainly haa, of ' attempt to persuade ; and (3) by supplying irri before wotiirtu. It is adversely criticised by Field, Otiitm Sorv. iii. nd loc. But Reniiall, Acts o/ Apon. in Gre<k and I-Jiujlwh (la'.}"), accept* it, rendering, ' At little cost thou wouldest fain persuade me to make me a Christian I ' ^e exclamation mark is intended to suggest the irony in Agnppa's voice). J.

Hastings.