imitabilis Latin · revision 35757

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=81–43 BC, Cicero|origins=la imitor}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ɪ.mɪˈtaː.bɪ.lɪs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [i.miˈtaː.bi.lis]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''imitābilis''' (neuter imitābile); third-declension two-termination adjective^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|imitor|-bilis|t1=to imitate, copy]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(TLL) De Vaan derives that frequentative, like [[m|la|imāgō|t=image]], from an earlier verb [[itc-pro|*imā-je/o-]], and connects it with [[ine-pro|*h₂i-m-h₂-|t=image]], whose only certain relative is [[hit|himma-|t=imitation, substitute]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is first found in Cicero's ''Orator'', where the plainness of a style seems easy to imitate to one who judges it.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In Classical Latin it meant “that can be imitated”: Horace warns of a model that can be copied in its faults, Virgil has a thunderbolt that cannot be imitated, and Quintilian calls Pindar imitable by no one.^(TLL)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Pliny the Elder says that no gem is more easily imitated in glass, and Pliny the Younger tells a friend that he seemed to him most worthy of imitation.^(Lewis & Short 1879) Vitruvius uses it in the active sense, of men imitative by nature.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ British medieval writers used it of what should be imitated, and in philosophy of the divine essence, which creatures can imitate; it also kept the sense “imitative”.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a style that seems imitable.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius uses it of an imitative nature.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil writes of a thunderbolt that cannot be imitated.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 65–8 BC – Horace uses it of a model copied in its faults.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian calls Pindar imitable by no one.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # That can be [[m|en|imitate|alt=imitated]], [[m|en|imitable]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # Inclined to imitate, [[m|en|imitative]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' Worthy of imitation.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[inimitābilis]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}