μίμημα

Forms

μῑ́μημα (mī́mēma) n (genitive μῑμήματος); third declension.^[1][2]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek μιμέομαι (mīméomai, “to imitate”) + -μα (-ma), a noun of the result of the action.^[3][4][1] Beekes lists it, with the prefixed ἀπομίμημα (apomímēma), among the derivatives of the verb, which he takes to be most likely a denominative of μῖμος (mîmos, “mime, actor”), although that noun is attested rarely and late.^[3]

For the noun Beekes finds no etymology: its technical meaning makes a loan probable, and a Pre-Greek origin is quite possible.^[3][5] The old comparison with Sanskrit माया (māyā́, “magic power, art”) rests on a meaning “image, illusion” that the earliest Sanskrit texts do not show, and Beekes and Wiktionary regard it as outdated.^[3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first records are in Aeschylus, in a fragment of a satyr play, where it means something made in imitation of something else, a copy or counterfeit.^[2][1][6]

Semantic evolution

Euripides' Helen has the phrase “you have the likeness of Helen”, and the comic poet Antiphanes calls certain loaves “an imitation of an Attic hand”.^[2] Plato uses the word often, both for a copy of a model and for an artistic representation, the product of the artist's imitation.^[2][1][6]

The Stoic Cleanthes calls human beings “an imitation of god”, and Musonius Rufus says that a man is an image of god.^[2][7] In the Septuagint it occurs once, in the Wisdom of Solomon, meaning a copy, and Polycarp's letter calls Christian prisoners copies of true love.^[8][7]

Timeline

• 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses it in a satyr play for a counterfeit or copy.^[2][1][9]
• 5th century BC – Euripides uses it in the Helen for a likeness of a person.^[2][10][9]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it for a copy of a model and for an artistic representation.^[2][1][9]
• 4th century BC – The comic poet Antiphanes applies it to loaves of bread shaped by an Attic baker.^[2][9]
• 4th–3rd century BC – Cleanthes calls human beings an imitation of god.^[2][9]
• 1st century AD – Musonius Rufus calls a man an image of god.^[2][7][9]

Meanings

Noun

1. Something made in imitation of something else: a copy, likeness or counterfeit.^[2][1][7]
2. An artistic representation, the product of artistic imitation.^[2][1][6]

Related words

• μῖμος (mîmos)
• μιμέομαι (mīméomai)
• μίμησις (mímēsis)
• μιμητής (mīmētḗs)
• ἀπομίμημα (apomímēma)

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ Βικιλεξικό, the Greek Wiktionary, https://el.wiktionary.org
5. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
6. ^ a b c Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
7. ^ a b c d Bauer, Walter; Danker, Frederick W., et al. (2000), A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed., Chicago: University of Chicago Press
8. ^ Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
9. ^ a b c d e f Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
10. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux