fictitious (sp?)

[Gordon, Matthew J.]

I heard 'fictition' last week from a caller to an NPR show. At the time I took it as slip of the tongue - the caller sounded upset about an author's mixing of "fact and fictition".  However, with Moore's usage at the Oscars now I'm wondering if this form has some currency. It seems like a nice case of back formation.

-----Original Message-----
From:   Arnold Zwicky [mailto:zwicky at CSLI.STANFORD.EDU]
Sent:   Mon 3/24/2003 7:52 PM
To:     ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Cc:	
Subject:             Re: fictitious (sp?)

vida morkunas:
 >Nevermind that fictitious is not a word (nor is fictition) - is this
 >a first use of these two words?

"fictitious" is certainly a word, and has been attested (with
the meaning 'artificial' and related meanings) for about four
hundred years.  "fictition" i don't recall having seen, though
'work of artifice, artificial creation' would be a transparent
meaning.

arnold (zwicky at csli.stanford.edu)