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and "Abraham Lincoln was assassinated" are both historical facts.

Etymology and usage

The word fact derives from the Latin factum. It was first used in English with the same meaning: "a thing done or performed"a meaning now obsolete outside the law. The common usage of "something that has really occurred or is the case" dates from the mid-16th century.

Barbara J. Shapiro wrote in her book A Culture of Fact how the concept of a fact evolved, starting within the English legal tradition of the 16th century.

In 1870,

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