facsimile

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin fac simile (“make (something) similar!”),^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} called Modern Latin by the Shorter Oxford and the Oxford Dictionary of English,^[8][9] from fac, the imperative of faciō (“to make, do”), and simile, the neuter of similis (“like, similar”).^{[2][3][4][10]} Etymonline traces the verb to Proto-Indo-European *dhe- (“to set, put”),^[3][6] and the adjective is the source of similar.^[4][7] The word was at first written with a space, and usually so until the 20th century.^[2][3][7] The OED notes that a form factum simile, recorded in 1782, is often said to be the original, but finds no evidence for it.^[2] Weekley compares factotum, of the same Latin verb.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The making of a copy of something, especially of writing; imitation: before 1661, in T. Fuller's History of the Worthies of England (published 1662).^[2] Barnhart dates the word to 1662,^[4] while the Shorter Oxford and the Oxford Dictionary of English put the first use, still written fac simile, in the late 16th century.^[8][9]

Semantic evolution

The word began as the name of an action, the making of an exact copy, especially of a piece of writing.^[9][12] That sense died out in the mid 17th century.^[8][2] From 1691 the word meant the copy itself, an exact copy or likeness.^[2][5] Etymonline dates this sense to the 1690s.^[3] It was used figuratively from 1801,^[2] as an adjective (a facsimile edition) from the mid 18th century in the Shorter Oxford,^[8] or from 1877 in Etymonline,^[3] and as a verb from 1839.^[2] The one-word spelling prevailed in the 20th century.^[3] From the late 19th century it also named a system of sending copies by transmitting signals from a scanned original,^[8] called facsimile telegraphy, which Ayto dates to the 1870s.^[13] The clipped form fax was coined for it in the United States in the 1940s,^[13][12] and is recorded from 1946.^[2]

Timeline

• before 1661 – the making of a copy, especially of writing (now obsolete).^[2] Barnhart dates it 1662, and the Shorter Oxford the late 16th century.^[4][8]
• 1691 – an exact copy or likeness, also in the phrase in facsimile.^[2][5]
• mid 18th century – as an adjective, exactly copied.^[8]
• 1801 – figuratively, an exact counterpart.^[2]
• 1839 – verb, to be an exact copy of.^[2]
• 1862 – verb, to make a facsimile of; to reproduce.^[2]
• late 19th century – a system for sending copies of documents by transmitted signals.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. An exact and detailed copy of something, such as a book, document or painting: The museum sells a facsimile of the medieval map.^[5][14][2]
2. A system of sending and reproducing printed matter or pictures by signals over telephone lines or radio; fax.^[5][8]
3. An image or document produced by such transmission.^[14]
4. in facsimile: as an exact copy.^[2][8]

Verb

1. To make an exact copy of; to reproduce.^[5][14][2]
2. To be an exact copy of.^[5][2]

Word family

• telefacsimile

Related words

• fax
• similar
• simile
• factotum
• fact

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
11. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
12. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
14. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins