Are you a football fan? Or a fan of the Queen? Maybe you’re a Countdown fan (hooray!). We’re all fans of something — in my case it’s word-games and chocolate cake.

But have you ever wondered where the word ‘fan’ comes from?

Could it be:

A. That the original fans used to follow the object of their admiration everywhere, and literally fan them with enormous palm leaves to keep them cool in hot weather.

B. ‘Fan’ is short for ‘fanatic’, and once described people who were thought to be possessed by a demon, and who behaved in a crazy fashion.

C. ‘Fan’ is a shortening of ‘fantastic’, because, after all, every team or celebrity loves to have supporters.

ANSWER: B!

The Latin word fanaticus came from fanum, ‘a temple’, and meant ‘inspired by a god’. The god in question though was thought to be an evil spirit, and so a ‘fanatic’ was a religious ‘maniac’, possessed by a demon, which made them behave in crazy ways!

Over time, fanaticus was shortened to ‘fan’, and came to describe someone who worshipped something or someone with great passion. We’ve forgotten about the evil spirits these days, although some football fans do behave a bit crazily sometimes don’t they?!

By the way, those servants who would fan their masters were called, in India, punkah wallahs — punkah means ‘fan’, and wallah means a ‘man’ or ‘servant’.

And as for ‘fantastic’, that is linked to ‘fantasy’ and something that is as wonderful as you could ever imagine.