pantomimus
Forms
pantomīmus m (genitive pantomīmī); second declension[1]
Etymology
It is borrowed from Ancient Greek παντόμιμος (pantómimos, “imitator of all”),[2][1] from πᾶς (pâs, “all”) and μῖμος (mîmos, “imitator, mime”).[3] A scholiast on Terence explained the name as one who imitates every face.[4]
Earliest recorded meaning
Seneca the Elder uses it in the preface to his third book of Controversiae, and the younger Seneca in his Letters.[5] Köbler dates Seneca 4 BC–65 AD.[6]
Semantic evolution
It was a pantomime performer, a dancer who acted a story in dumb show, supported by a chorus and music.[2][7] Suetonius mentions pantomimes often in the lives of Augustus and Caligula, and Pliny the Younger and the Digest also do.[7][5] Pliny the Elder uses it of a pantomime piece.[8]
English pantomime is recorded in the 1610s for a mime actor.[3]
Timeline
- 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it.[5][6]
- c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius mentions pantomimes.[7][6]
- 1610s – English pantomime is recorded.[3]
Meanings
Noun
Word family
- pantomīma
Related words
- mīmus
- English pantomime
References
- ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
- ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
- ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
- ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
- ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.