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fable
fable brief allegorical narrative, in verse or prose, illustrating a moral thesis or satirizing human beings. The characters of a fable are usually animals who talk and act like people while retaining their animal traits. The oldest known fables are those in the Panchatantra, a collection of fables in Sanskrit, and those attributed to the Greek Aesop, perhaps the most famous of all fabulists. Other important writers of fables include Jean de La Fontaine, whose fables are noted for their sophistication and wit, the Russian poet Ivan Krylov, and the German dramatist and critic Gotthold Lessing, who also wrote a critical essay on the fable. In England the tradition of the fable was continued in the 17th and 18th cent. by John Dryden and John Gay. The use of the fable in the 20th cent. can be seen in James Thurber's Fables for Our Time (1940) and in George Orwell's political allegory, Animal Farm (1945). The American poet Marianne Moore wrote poems quite similar to fables in their use of animals and animal traits to comment on human experience; she also published an excellent translation of The Fables of La Fontaine (1954).
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"fable." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. 10 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "fable." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. (February 10, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-fable.html "fable." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2008. Retrieved February 10, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-fable.html |
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fable
fa·ble / ˈfābəl/ • n. a short story, typically with animals as characters, conveying a moral. ∎ a story, typically a supernatural one incorporating elements of myth and legend. ∎ myth and legend: monsters of fable. ∎ a false statement or belief. • v. [intr.] archaic tell fictitious tales. ∎ [tr.] fabricate or invent (an incident, person, or story). DERIVATIVES: fa·bler / ˈfāb(ə)lər/ n. ORIGIN: Middle English: from Old French fable (noun), from Latin fabula ‘story,’ from fari ‘speak.’ |
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"fable." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Encyclopedia.com. 10 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "fable." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Encyclopedia.com. (February 10, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O999-fable.html "fable." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Retrieved February 10, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O999-fable.html |
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fable
fable The description in AV for fictitious ‘old wives’ tales' (1 Tim. 4: 7); called ‘cunningly devised’ (2 Pet. 1: 16). NRSV, REB, and NJB prefer the translation ‘myths’—but this adds to the difficulty of rescuing the use of ‘myth’ by modern theologians as a story which conveys a truth other than the historical.
The word does not occur in the OT but parables about trees (Judg. 9: 8–15 and 2 Kgs. 14: 9 ff.) fall into this category. |
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W. R. F. BROWNING. "fable." A Dictionary of the Bible. 1997. Encyclopedia.com. 10 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. W. R. F. BROWNING. "fable." A Dictionary of the Bible. 1997. Encyclopedia.com. (February 10, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O94-fable.html W. R. F. BROWNING. "fable." A Dictionary of the Bible. 1997. Retrieved February 10, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O94-fable.html |
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fable
fable, a term most commonly used in the sense of a short story devised to convey some useful moral lesson, but often carrying with it associations of the marvellous or the mythical, and frequently employing animals as charac-ters. Aesop's fables and the ‘Reynard the Fox’ series were well known and imitated in Britain by Chaucer, Henryson, and others, and La Fontaine, the greatest of modern fable writers, was imitated by Gay.
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MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "fable." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. 10 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "fable." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. (February 10, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O54-fable.html MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "fable." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Retrieved February 10, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O54-fable.html |
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fable
fable Literary genre which takes the form of a short allegorical tale, intended to convey a moral. The oldest extant fables are the Greek tales of Aesop and the Indian stories of the Panchatantra. Other notable collections of fables were made by Jean de La Fontaine and John Gay. See also allegory
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"fable." World Encyclopedia. 2005. Encyclopedia.com. 10 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "fable." World Encyclopedia. 2005. Encyclopedia.com. (February 10, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O142-fable.html "fable." World Encyclopedia. 2005. Retrieved February 10, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O142-fable.html |
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fable
fable a short story, typically with animals as characters, conveying a moral; a story, typically a supernatural one incorporating elements of myth and legend. Recorded from Middle English, the word comes via Old French from Latin fabula ‘story’, from fari ‘speak’.
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ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "fable." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 2006. Encyclopedia.com. 10 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "fable." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 2006. Encyclopedia.com. (February 10, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O214-fable.html ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "fable." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 2006. Retrieved February 10, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O214-fable.html |
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fable
fable XIII. — (O)F. — L. fābula discourse, story, f. fārī speak (cf. FAME).
So vb. tell tales XIV; relate as fiction XVI. |
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T. F. HOAD. "fable." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. 10 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. T. F. HOAD. "fable." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. (February 10, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O27-fable.html T. F. HOAD. "fable." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. 1996. Retrieved February 10, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O27-fable.html |
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fable
fable
•babble, bedabble, dabble, drabble, gabble, grabble, rabble, scrabble
•amble, bramble, Campbell, gamble, gambol, ramble, scramble, shamble
•psychobabble • technobabble
•barbel, garble, marble
•pebble, rebel, treble
•assemble, dissemble, Kemble, resemble, tremble
•Abel, able, Babel, cable, enable, fable, gable, label, Mabel, sable, stable, table
•enfeeble, feeble, Keble
•dibble, dribble, fribble, Gribble, kibble, nibble, quibble, scribble
•Abu Simbel, cymbal, gimbal, nimble, symbol, thimble, timbal
•mandible
•credible, edible
•descendible, extendible, vendible
•audible
•frangible, tangible
•illegible, legible
•eligible, intelligible
•negligible • dirigible • corrigible
•submergible • fallible • indelible
•gullible
•cannibal, Hannibal
•discernible • terrible • horrible
•thurible
•irascible, passible
•expansible • collapsible • impassible
•accessible, compressible, impressible, inexpressible, irrepressible, repressible
•flexible
•apprehensible, comprehensible, defensible, distensible, extensible, ostensible, reprehensible, sensible
•indexible
•admissible, dismissible, immiscible, impermissible, irremissible, miscible, omissible, permissible, remissible, transmissible
•convincible, vincible
•compossible, impossible, possible
•irresponsible, responsible
•forcible
•adducible, crucible, deducible, inducible, irreducible, producible, reducible, seducible
•coercible, irreversible, reversible, submersible
•biocompatible, compatible
•contractible • partible
•indefectible, perfectible
•contemptible
•imperceptible, perceptible, susceptible
•comestible, digestible, suggestible
•irresistible, resistible
•exhaustible
•conductible, deductible, destructible, tax-deductible
•corruptible, interruptible
•combustible
•controvertible, convertible, invertible
•discerptible • persuasible • feasible
•divisible, risible, visible
•implausible, plausible
•fusible
•Bible, intertribal, libel, scribal, tribal
•bobble, Chernobyl, cobble, gobble, hobble, knobble, nobble, squabble, wobble
•ensemble
•bauble, corbel, warble
•coble, ennoble, Froebel, global, Grenoble, ignoble, noble
•foible • rouble • Hasdrubal • chasuble
•soluble, voluble
•bubble, double, Hubble, nubble, rubble, stubble, trouble
•bumble, crumble, fumble, grumble, humble, jumble, mumble, rough-and-tumble, rumble, scumble, stumble, tumble, umbel
•payable, sayable
•seeable, skiable
•amiable
•dyeable, flyable, friable, liable, pliable, triable, viable
•towable
•doable, suable, wooable
•affable • effable • exigible • cascabel
•takable • likable • salable • tenable
•tunable • capable • dupable
•arable, parable
•curable, durable
•taxable
•fixable, mixable
•actable • collectible
•datable, hatable
•eatable
•notable, potable
•mutable • savable • livable • movable
•lovable • equable • sizable • usable
•burble, herbal, verbal
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"fable." Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes. 2007. Encyclopedia.com. 10 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "fable." Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes. 2007. Encyclopedia.com. (February 10, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O233-fable.html "fable." Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes. 2007. Retrieved February 10, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O233-fable.html |
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