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simia

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word simia

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 250–184 BC, Plautus
Ultimate origin
Ancient Greek σιμός

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈsiː.mi.a][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈsiː.mi.a][1]

Forms

sīmia f or m (genitive sīmiae); first declension[1] Usually feminine, rarely masculine; a masculine sīmius also occurs.[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is probably from Latin sīmus (“snub-nosed”),[2][1][5] which is borrowed from Ancient Greek σιμός (simós, “snub-nosed”).[2][6][1] Lewis and Short call the origin doubtful and suggest a link with similis (“like”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found in Plautus[7][2] and in a line of Ennius that Cicero quotes: sīmia quam similis turpissima bēstia nōbīs, “how like us is the ape, ugliest of beasts”.[2][4]

Semantic evolution

Plautus uses it several times for a pet monkey and as a term of abuse,[2][4] Afranius in the masculine,[2][3] and Horace has the masculine sīmius of a man.[3] Cicero, Celsus, Pliny the Elder, Martial, Quintilian and Juvenal use it of the animal,[2] and Pliny distinguishes several kinds.[2][4] Figuratively it was a slavish imitator: Pliny the Younger reports a book that called Rusticus “the ape of the Stoics”.[2][3] The grammarian Sergius says both hic and haec sīmia were used.[3]

English formed simian from it about 1600.[5] In the 18th century and for some time after, Simia served as the genus name of the primates.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a monkey and as an insult.[2][7]
  • 204–169 BC – Ennius compares the ape to man.[2][7]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder describes several kinds of apes.[2][7]
  • c. 1600 – English forms simian from it.[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. An ape, a monkey.[2][4]
  2. (term of abuse) An ape of a man.[2][3]
  3. (figurative) One who copies another, an imitator.[2][3]

Word family

  • sīmius
  • English simian

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 k l m n o p Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  4. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
  7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Simia.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/simia. Accessed 22 Oct. 2026.

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