similis

Esperanto

Verb

similis

1. past of simili

Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Italic *semalis, from Proto-Indo-European *sem-h₂-lo-, from *sem- (“together, one”). Cognate with Ancient Greek ὁμαλός (homalós, “even, level”), Welsh hafal (“equal”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈsɪ.mɪ.lɪs]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈsiː.mi.lis]

Adjective

similis (neuter simile, comparative similior, superlative simillimus, adverb similiter); third-declension two-termination adjective

1. similar to, like, resembling, of the same kind, the same as [with (mostly Republican) genitive or (almost always in post-Augustan writers) dative ]

   Synonym: aequālis

   Antonyms: dissimilis, absimilis, inaequālis

   • 160 BCE, Publius Terentius Afer, Adelphoe 411:

     Est similis mâiōrum suom.

     He's like his own ancestors.
     (Example with the genitive mâiōrum.)

   • 63 BCE, Cicero, Catiline Orations Oratio in Catilinam Prima in Senatu Habita.4:

     Similī senātūs cōnsultō, C. Mariō et L. Valeriō cōnsulibus est permissa rēs pūblica [...].

     By a similar decree of the Senate, the republic was entrusted to the consuls Gaius Marius and Lucius Valerius.

   • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid 4.253–255:

     [...] hinc tōtō praeceps sē corpore ad undās
     mīsit, avī similis, quae circum lītora, circum
     piscōsōs scopulōs humilīs volat aequora iuxtā.

     [...] then, with his whole body, [Mercury] hurled himself headlong toward the waves, like a seabird, which rounds the shorelines, [and] around the fish-filled crags it flies low near the water.

Declension

Third-declension two-termination adjective.

	singular			plural
	masc./fem.	neuter		masc./fem.	neuter
nominative	similis	simile		similēs	similia
genitive	similis			similium
dative	similī			similibus
accusative	similem	simile		similīs similēs	similia
ablative	similī			similibus
vocative	similis	simile		similēs	similia

Derived terms

• absimilis
• assimilis
• cōnsimilis
• dissimilis
• similāris
• similitās
• simulō

Related terms

• semel
• simul
• simultās

Descendants

• Inherited:
  • Old French: semble
  • Old Neapolitan: semele
  • Old Occitan: semble
  • Romanian: seamăn
  • Vulgar Latin: *similiāre (see there for further descendants)
• Borrowed:
  • → Catalan: símil
  • → English: simile
  • → Friulian: simil
  • → Italian: simile
  • → Portuguese: símile, símil
  • → Spanish: símil

References

• “similis”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “similis”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “similis”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894), Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to be probable: veri simile esse
    
  • to employ a comparison, simile: simili uti
    
  • to use the same simile, illustration: ut in eodem simili verser
    
• “similis”, in William Smith, editor (1848), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London: John Murray
• Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002), “sĭmĭlis”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, volume 11: S–Si, page 628