English
imitator
Imitator comes from Latin imitor ‘to imitate, act like, copy after, seek to…’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *h₂eym-.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂eym-‘to imitate’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*imā‘copy’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEimitor‘to imitate, act like, copy after, seek to resemble, counterfeit’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEimitātor
- Frenchc. 1600–presentimitateur
- Englishearliest quotation 2021imitator
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂eym-‘to imitate’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*imā‘copy’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEimitor‘to imitate, act like, copy after, seek to resemble, counterfeit’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEimitātor
- Frenchc. 1600–presentimitateur
- Englishearliest quotation 2021imitator
Earliest quotation: 2021, Brian Lowry: “Chalk it up to the government’s revelations in recent…”
Formed from imitate + -or
Proto-Indo-European *h₂eym- ‘to imitate’
Proto-Italic *imā ‘copy’
Latin imitor ‘to copy, portray, imitate’
Latin imitātus ‘having represented, expressed, portrayed’
English imitate
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *h₂eym- ‘to imitate’
imagine, image, imagination, imaginary, emulate, emulation, imago, 8 more
Today it means
noun A person who imitates or apes another.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *h₂eym- / imitator