dissimilitudo

Forms

dissimilitūdō f (genitive dissimilitūdinis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin dissimilis (“unlike”) + -tūdō.^[2][3][4] That adjective is dis- (“not”) with similis (“like”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Cicero,^[4] who uses it very often in the singular and plural.^[6]

Semantic evolution

It is unlikeness, difference, both between things and as inconsistency within one person.^[2][6] In rhetoric it is a contrast.^[2] Quintilian uses it, and Varro has the plural in his books on language.^[6][3] The grammarian Priscian lists it among nouns with a long final ⟨o⟩.^[3] Church Latin glosses it difference.^[7] English dissimilitude (early 15th century) is unlikeness, want of resemblance.^[5]

Timeline

• 116–27 BC – Varro.^[3]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero.^[6][4]
• c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian.^[6]
• early 15th century – English dissimilitude.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. Unlikeness, difference, dissimilitude; inconsistency in one person.^[2][6][1][7]
2. (rhetoric) Contrast.^[2]

Related words

• similitūdō
• English dissimilitude

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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 c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e f 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