fame [ME] In early use fame could mean not only ‘celebrity’ but ‘reputation’, a sense that survives in the old term for a brothel, a house of ill fame [M17th]. The word comes from Latin fama ‘report, fame’. The desire to win fame has often been seen as a positive force to stir somebody up to action: in the 17th century John Milton wrote ‘Fame is the spur that the clear spirit doth raise…To scorn delights, and live laborious days.’ Famous [LME] is from the same root. To be famous for fifteen minutes comes from the prediction by the American artist Andy Warhol in 1968 that ‘In the future everybody will be world-famous for fifteen minutes.’ A few years later famous for being famous is recorded to describe someone whose only real distinction is their celebrity status.