« Now listed at | Main | Female trouble »  From "fanatic"  It’s
not mere coincidence that fan derives from fanatic.  The Oxford
English Dictionary goes back to the Latin root, fanaticus,
itself derived from fanum, temple. A fanaticus was a person who
had been driven mad by a god, or as the OED says, “Such as might
result from possession by a deity or demon; frantic, furious. Of
a person: Frenzied, mad.”  As Christianity replaced the old
pagan religion, a new sense developed: “Characterized,
influenced, or prompted by excessive and mistaken enthusiasm,
esp. in religious matters.”   A colleague, Damon Curry, takes
exception to last week’s post about J.K. Rowling on behalf of
fellow fans of the Harry Potter books and films:  The Harry
Potter series, as, I trust, you know, has gained quite the cult
following. This following has lifted the world she created out
of the context of the series and placed it in a larger cultural
context. Look, for instance, at the midnight release parties and
the myriad fan fiction Web