Etymologically
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dissimulator

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [dɪs.sɪ.mʊˈɫaː.tɔr][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [dis.si.muˈlaː.tor][1]

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]

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