mima

Forms

mīma f (genitive mīmae); first declension^[1] Cledonius gives the dative and ablative plural mīmābus.^[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin mīmus (“mime, mime actor”), as its feminine.^[3][2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Cicero,^[4] who uses it in the Philippics.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It is an actress who performs in mimes.^[3][2] Cicero uses it in the second and thirteenth Philippics, once in apposition, mīma uxor, and Horace in the Satires.^[2] It also occurs in an inscription.^[2] According to the grammarian Cledonius the dative and ablative plural was mīmābus.^[2] The TLL treats it under mīmus.^[5]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero in the Philippics.^[2][4]
• 65–8 BC – Horace in the Satires.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. An actress in mimes.^[3][2][1]

Word family

• archimima
• mīmula

Related words

• mīmus

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften