dissimulator

Forms

dissimulātor m (genitive dissimulātōris); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin dissimulō (“to disguise, conceal”) + -tor.^[2][1][3] The verb is ultimately from similis “like”, which goes back to Proto-Italic *semali- (“alike, together”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest example is in Sallust, who pairs it with simulātor: “cuius rei lubet simulator ac dissimulator” (“a pretender and dissembler of anything he pleased”).^[2][3][5]

Semantic evolution

It meant a person who hides his purpose or character, usually with a genitive of what is hidden,^[2][3] and also one who hides what he knows or pretends not to notice, as in Martial.^[2] Horace, Quintilian and Tacitus also use it.^[6] Sedulius repeats Sallust's pairing of simulātor and dissimulātor in late antiquity,^[3] and Köbler records it in Hrabanus Maurus.^[5]

Timeline

• 86–34 BC – Sallust pairs simulātor and dissimulātor.^[2][3][5]
• 65–8 BC – Horace uses it in the Epistles.^[6][5]
• c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian uses it.^[6][5]
• 40–102/103 AD – Martial uses it of someone who pretends not to know.^[2][5]
• 1st half of the 5th century AD – Sedulius takes up Sallust's pairing.^[3][5]
• 1st half of the 9th century – Hrabanus Maurus uses it.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person who conceals his purpose or character, a dissembler.^[2][6]
2. A person who hides what he knows or deliberately ignores something.^[2]

Related words

• simulātor
• dissimulanter

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f 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 d e f g h Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press