imitator Latin · revision 36839

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

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

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

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

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''imitātor''' ''m'' (genitive imitātōris); third declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|imitor|-tor|t1=to imitate, copy]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Bianchi & Lelli 2014) De Vaan derives both [[m|la|imitor]] and [[m|la|imāgō|t=image]] from an earlier verb [[itc-pro|*imā-je/o-]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is found first in Cicero,^(Köbler 2010) who speaks of those whose imitators certain orators claim to be^(OLD 2012) and of the many imitators that leading men find.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Cicero also calls actors the imitators of reality and speaks of an imitator of old crimes.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Nepos calls Atticus a great follower of the ways of the ancestors,^(Conte 2010) and Quintilian has imitators of Thucydides and of the Attic writers.^(Lewis & Short 1879) It could be scornful: Horace addresses imitators as ''servum pecus'', a slavish herd,^(Conte 2010) and Ovid calls Brutus the wise imitator of a fool.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Bianchi & Lelli 2014) An inscription uses it for a mime actor.^(Georges 1913)

+

+ In Christian Latin it meant a follower of an example;^(Stelten 1995)^(MLW) Gildas speaks of imitators of the apostles, and Bede of one who had followed the earlier abbots.^(DMLBS) English took ''imitator'' in the 1520s from French or directly from Latin.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of imitators of orators and of actors.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 65–8 BC – Horace scorns imitators as a slavish herd.^(Conte 2010)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid calls Brutus the imitator of a fool.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1520s – English borrows it as ''imitator''.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # One who [[m|en|imitate|alt=imitates]] or [[m|en|emulate|alt=emulates]] a person or a way of life.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # One who copies or reproduces, a [[m|en|mimic]].^(OLD 2012)^(Conte 2010)

+ # A [[m|en|mime]] actor.^(Georges 1913)

+ # ''(Ecclesiastical Latin)'' A [[m|en|follower]].^(Stelten 1995)^(MLW)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[imitatorius]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[imitor]]

+ * [[imitātiō]]

+ * [[en|imitator]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}