imita

Forms

imita (present imit, third-person singular imită, past participle imitat), 1st conjugation^[1][2] Some older writers, Sadoveanu and Gherea among them, conjugate it with -ez in the present: imitez.^[3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French imiter together with Latin imitor (“to imitate, copy”), as DEX and the neologism dictionaries give it.^[2][5] MDA2 names French alone, and Wiktionary French from Latin.^[4][1] Tiktin takes it from the Latin verb, directly and also through other languages.^[6] The DA calls it a neologism after French.^[6][7] Marcu and Maneca also compare Italian imitare.^[8]

French borrowed the Latin verb before 1493.^[9] The root of the Latin word, of obscure origin, is also found in imāgō (“image”).^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin dates the first record to 1800.^[6] MDA2's first record is in Anton Pann's Povestea vorbei of 1852: „Să imităm ... p-acei ce-i vedem făcând bine” “let us imitate those whom we see doing good”, in the sense “to follow someone's example”.^[4][7]

Semantic evolution

Negulici's dictionary of 1848 enters the verb in its Latinizing infinitive imitare.^[10] It defines it as taking someone as an example, following a model, and mimicking someone's speech and manners.^[10] Pontbriant's dictionary of 1862 adds “to copy, reproduce” and, figuratively, “to feign, simulate”.^[11]

In literature and the arts the verb came to mean taking an author's or artist's work as a model.^[7] Odobescu writes of authors whom one translates, imitates or adapts.^[7] Another sense is the faithful reproduction of something, such as a signature or someone's handwriting.^[7][12] The DLRLC also notes mimicking someone's speech or gestures for comic effect.^[3] The CADE adds a use with a thing as subject, “to resemble”, as a cloth that imitates velvet.^[13] The DA records the participle imitat “counterfeit” and its negative neimitat.^[7] It also records imitator and Odobescu's mocking diminutive imitatoraș.^[7]

Timeline

• 1800 – the first record.^[6]
• 1848 – entered as imitare in Negulici's dictionary of neologisms.^[10]
• 1852 – imităm “let us imitate” in Anton Pann's Povestea vorbei.^[4][7]
• 1862 – Pontbriant gives the senses “copy” and “feign”.^[11]
• 1869 – the Romanian equivalent of Hungarian utánoz in Barițiu's dictionary.^[14]

Meanings

Verb

1. To imitate: to adopt exactly someone's way of thinking or behaving, to take someone as an example: Copiii își imită părinții.^[2][4]
2. To reproduce someone's way of speaking or singing, or their typical gestures, to mimic (maimuțări).^[2][4]
3. To take an artist's or writer's work or manner as a model.^[2][4]
4. To reproduce faithfully, to copy: a imita o semnătură “to forge a signature”.^[2][12]

Word family

• imitat
• neimitat

Related words

• imitator
• imitație
• imitabil
• inimitabil

Usage notes

Tiktin records an obsolete form imitarisi.^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 492
3. ^ a b Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 2, 495
4. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1116
5. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. imita
6. ^ a b c d e Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. imita
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română (1913–1949), Dicționarul limbii române (DA), ed. Sextil Pușcariu, tom I (A–B, C, D–De) and tom II (F–I, J–Lojniță), București: Socec / Universul / Monitorul Oficial și Imprimeriile Statului; page scans at cflr-scans.solirom.ro, p. s.v. imita
8. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. imita
9. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b c Negulici, I. D. (1848), Vocabular romînesc de toate vorbele streine întroduse pînă acum în limba romînească și de toate cuvintele ce s-ar mai putea introduce încă, București, p. s.v. imita
11. ^ a b Pontbriant, Raoul de (1862), Dictiunaru romano-francesu, Bucuresci: A. Ulrich / Göttingen: Dieterich, p. 317
12. ^ a b Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 307
13. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească, p. s.v. imita
14. ^ Barițiu, George (1869), Dictionariu unguresc-romanescu, Brașov, p. 597