similitudo

Forms

similitūdō f (genitive similitūdinis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin similis (“like”) + -tūdō.^[2][1][3] De Vaan traces ⟨similis⟩ to Proto-Italic *semali- (“alike, together”) and Proto-Indo-European *smh₂-el-i-; it is cognate with Old Irish samail (“likeness”), Welsh hafal (“like”) and Ancient Greek ὁμαλός (homalós, “level”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan gives Pacuvius as its first author.^[4] In a tragedy of his a character recognises someone vōcis … similitūdine, by the likeness of the voice.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It is likeness or resemblance, with similitūdō vērī the appearance of truth, probability (Cicero), a shared nature, and ad similitūdinem “after the manner of”.^[2] It is also something that resembles another thing, a likeness in a painting or statue (Velleius), the use of a parallel case, a comparison, simile or analogy, which the Rhetorica ad Herennium defines as a figure of speech, and sameness or monotony, which Cicero calls the mother of satiety.^[2][3]

Church Latin glosses it “likeness, parable”,^[5] and medieval Latin used it for an example, comparison or parable.^[6] English similitude (late 14th century) comes from it, partly through Old French.^[7]

Timeline

• 220–130 BC – Pacuvius of likeness of voice.^[2][4][8]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of probability and monotony.^[2][8]
• c. 20 BC–30 AD – Velleius of a portrait likeness.^[2][8]
• late 14th century – English similitude.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. Likeness, resemblance, similarity, similitūdō vērī, probability.^[2][1][3]
2. Something that resembles another; a likeness, portrait.^[2][5]
3. A comparison, simile, analogy.^[2][1]
4. Sameness, uniformity, monotony.^[2][1]
5. (Ecclesiastical Latin) A parable.^[5][6]

Word family

• vērisimilitūdō

Related words

• similigenus
• similis
• similitās
• similiter
• simulācrum
• simulāmen
• simulāmentum
• simulāns
• simulanter
• simulātē
• simulō
• English similitude

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c 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 Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
6. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de