consimilis

Forms

cōnsimilis (neuter cōnsimile, adverb cōnsimiliter); third-declension two-termination adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin con- + similis (“like”).^[2][3][1] The TLL compares an Irish adjective of the same formation meaning equal or similar.^[3] De Vaan traces similis to Proto-Italic *semali- (“alike, together”) and Proto-Indo-European *smh₂-el-i-.^[4] Cognate with Old Irish samail (“similar, like”) and Ancient Greek ὁμαλός (homalós, “equal, level”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Plautus,^[5] who in the Captivi says that a free man taken captive is just like a wild bird.^[6]

Semantic evolution

It means similar in all respects, like, and is used with the genitive, the dative, atque or quasi.^[2][6] Lewis & Short note that it is commonest in Plautus, Terence and Lucretius and absent from Horace, and the TLL that among later authors only Lucretius and Valerius Maximus use it often.^[6][3] The neuter plural is used as a noun, similar things, as Quintilian's balanced and similar clauses and Ulpian's “cloaks, tunics, mantles, coverlets and similar things”.^[2] Church Latin glosses it like, similar.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of a captive like a wild bird.^[6][5]
• 190–159 BC – Terence uses it often.^[6][5]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it often.^[6][3][5]
• c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian of similar clauses.^[2][5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Similar in all respects, like, alike.^[2][6][7][1]
2. (neuter plural as noun) Similar things.^[2]

Related words

• similis
• simul

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b 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 d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson