aemulatio

Forms

aemulātiō f (genitive aemulātiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin aemulor (“to rival, emulate”) + -tiō.^[2][3] De Vaan takes ⟨aemulor⟩ from aemulus (“rival”), a diminutive ⟨*aimelo-⟩ of a noun Proto-Italic *aimo-, Proto-Indo-European *h₂ei-mo- (“imitation”), cognate with Hittite himma- (“imitation, substitute”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Cicero,^[5] who defines it as the imitation of virtue.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It is the effort to equal or surpass others, emulation and ambition, and also jealous rivalry: Cicero hopes to be free of desires and rivalries.^[2] Livy uses it of imitating a person, a model even a good successor would find hard to equal.^[2] Lewis and Short note that it denotes the mental effort, while imitātiō is the manner of acting.^[6]

Glossaries render it with Ancient Greek ζῆλος (zêlos, “zeal, rivalry”).^[3] Church Latin has it for envy, emulation, striving after,^[7] and Medieval Latin for ardent zeal, indignation and hostility.^[8] English emulation (1550s) came from French émulation and directly from the Latin.^[9]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero of emulation and of jealous rivalry.^[2][5]
• 59 BC–AD 17 – Livy of imitating a model.^[2][5]
• 1550s – English emulation.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. The desire to equal or surpass others, emulation, ambition.^[2][6][1][7]
2. Jealous rivalry, envy.^[2][1][7]
3. Imitation of a person or thing.^[2]
4. (Medieval Latin) Ardent zeal; indignation; hostility.^[8]

Related words

• aemulanter
• aemulātor
• aemulātrīx
• aemulātus
• aemulor
• aemulus
• imitātiō
• English emulation

Usage notes

Döderlein distinguishes imitārī, merely trying to produce something like another thing, from aemulārī, doing something that will win equal or greater regard.^[10]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper