dissimilitudo
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Pronunciation
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
- Unlikeness, difference, dissimilitude; inconsistency in one person.[2][6][1][7]
- (rhetoric) Contrast.[2]
Related words
- similitūdō
- English dissimilitude
References
- ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
- ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
- ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
- ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson