mimus

Forms

mīmus m (genitive mīmī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek μῖμος (mîmos, “imitator, actor”).^[2][3][1][4] Etymonline calls the Greek word of unknown origin.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's first source is Lucilius;^[4] an old epitaph records Protogenes, a mime who gave the people much delight with his jests.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It is an actor in mimes, and the mime itself, a coarse kind of farce: Cicero speaks of a character from a mime, “now poor, suddenly rich”.^[2][3] Quintilian says the twisted face and gestures that make people laugh in mimes do not suit an orator.^[3] Figuratively it is a sham or farce, as in the elder Seneca's “how well she played her part”.^[2]

Church Latin glosses it “actor, mime, mimic”.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius.^[4]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of a character from a mime.^[2][4]
• c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian of the gestures of mimes.^[3][4]
• c. 1600 – Borrowed into English as mime, partly through French.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. An actor in mimes, a mime.^[2][3][1]
2. A mime, a coarse farce.^[2][3][1]
3. A sham, pretence, farce.^[2][1]

Word family

• archimimus
• mīma
• mīmārius
• mīmicus
• mimulus

Related words

• English mime

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson