"word was spoken the fiat went forth..."
I can't remember the Latin term for this verb form , but it means "let it be done". An order, a command.
"Fiat justitia, ruat caelum."

For a URL about Latin phrases, browse
http://www.sacklunch.net/Latin/F/fiatjustitiaruatcaelum.html

In English, I think, it's akin to the imperative, but in Latin it's "hortatory." Or something. Maybe there's a little more passive voice in hortatory than imperative - "Let it be done!" rather than "Do it!".

"Fiat lux!" is the equivalent of "Let there be light!"

Do you suppose Fiat Motors, makers of automobiles in Italy, meant something by the name? As opposed to the Chevvy Nova in Latin America, which was teased for its alternative translation into "it doesn't go!"

Afterthought: Is "fiasco" simply Italian for "I'm doing it"?

The automobile company name Fiat is an acronym, the "t" standing for Turin, where it is located. I can't remember the first three letters. I'll try to look them up.
Second Edit:Fiat is an acronym. It stands for Fabbrica Italiana Automobili di Torino
Edit: here are uncomplimentary acronyms:
FIAT


F**ked In the Ass Twice
Failed In A Tunnel
Failure in Italian Automotive Technology
Failure In Automotive Technology
Feeble Italian Attempt at Transportation
Fits In A Thimble
Fix It Again Today
Fix It Again Tony
Fix It All the Time
Flats In All Tires
Found In A Trench
Futile Italian Attempt at Transportation

It's the hortatory subjuncitve. It's a polite sort of imperative.

Fiasco is Italian for flask. AHD4 sugggests in might be a loan translation from a French phrase.

http://www.bartleby.com/61/87/F0098700.html

From the Internet:
Fiasco:
The Italian fiasco means`a glass bottle' and is related to the English flask. In English fiasco was first borrowed from Italian in this literal sense, referring especially to a long-necked, straw-covered bottle for wine. The French adopted the Italian fiasco into the phrase faire fiasco, meaning `to fail'. Fiasco was borrowed into English in the late nineteenth century in its newly acquired sense of an utter and often ridiculous failure. Just what prompted the development of the sense `failure' from `bottle' has remained obscure.

>Just what prompted the development of the sense `failure' from `bottle' has remained obscure.


Indeed it has - this was the question that was the basis of my very first post here, several avatars ago.

the basis of my very first post here, several avatars ago

Keep avatating yourself, mebbe you'll eventually get an answer.

the basis of my very first post here, several avatars ago.

Keep avatating yourself, mebbe you'll eventually get an answer.

Well, it was more than three years ago now, so I may have to repeat my demands for a refund.

Dear Max: I envy you your memory.