imitator

Forms

imitātor m (genitive imitātōris); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin imitor (“to imitate, copy”) + -tor.^[2][1][3] De Vaan derives both imitor and imāgō (“image”) from an earlier verb Proto-Italic *imā-je/o-.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found first in Cicero,^[5] who speaks of those whose imitators certain orators claim to be^[2] and of the many imitators that leading men find.^[6]

Semantic evolution

Cicero also calls actors the imitators of reality and speaks of an imitator of old crimes.^[2][6] Nepos calls Atticus a great follower of the ways of the ancestors,^[7] and Quintilian has imitators of Thucydides and of the Attic writers.^[6] It could be scornful: Horace addresses imitators as servum pecus, a slavish herd,^[7] and Ovid calls Brutus the wise imitator of a fool.^[6][3] An inscription uses it for a mime actor.^[8]

In Christian Latin it meant a follower of an example;^[9][10] Gildas speaks of imitators of the apostles, and Bede of one who had followed the earlier abbots.^[11] English took imitator in the 1520s from French or directly from Latin.^[12]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of imitators of orators and of actors.^[2][5]
• 65–8 BC – Horace scorns imitators as a slavish herd.^[7][5]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid calls Brutus the imitator of a fool.^[6][5]
• 1520s – English borrows it as imitator.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. One who imitates or emulates a person or a way of life.^[2][6]
2. One who copies or reproduces, a mimic.^[2][7]
3. A mime actor.^[8]
4. (Ecclesiastical Latin) A follower.^[9][10]

Word family

• imitatorius

Related words

• imitor
• imitātiō
• English imitator

References

1. ^ a b c d 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 Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
9. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
10. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
11. ^ Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
12. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com