simulatio

Forms

simulātiō f (genitive simulātiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin simulō (“to imitate, pretend”) + -tiō.^[2][1][3] The verb comes from similis (“like”), which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *semali- (“alike, together”) and Proto-Indo-European *smh₂-el-i-, cognate with Old Irish samail (“likeness”) and Ancient Greek ὁμαλός (homalós, “even, level”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan gives Terence as its first author.^[4] In the Heauton Timorumenos a man protests nōn mea'st simulātiō, “pretending is not my way”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It is the putting on of an appearance, pretence, and in rhetoric feigned feeling;^[2] Cicero has a man who hid great wisdom under a show of folly.^[2] It is also a pretext: Cicero asks whether armies are sent against the enemy or, on that pretext, against allies, and per simulātiōnem is “under pretence”.^[2] Seneca uses it of a mirror's copying of another's colour.^[2] Lewis and Short give it the further senses of insincerity and hypocrisy.^[5]

Church Latin glosses it “dissimulation, pretense”.^[6] British Medieval Latin keeps “pretence, deception”.^[7] English simulation (mid-14th century), first “a false show”, comes from it, partly through Old French.^[3]

Timeline

• 190–159 BC – Terence of pretence.^[4][2][8]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of feigned folly and of a pretext.^[2][8]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca of copying, imitation.^[2][8]
• mid-14th century – English simulation.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. Pretence, feigning, a false show; insincerity.^[2][1][6]
2. A pretext;^[2] per simulātiōnem, under pretence.^[2]
3. Copying, imitation.^[2]

Related words

• simulō
• similis
• dissimulātiō
• English simulation

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
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. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de