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Similitudo

Similitudo is a Latin noun meaning likeness, similarity, or resemblance. Etymologically from similis "like," the term functioned in classical Latin to denote a state or quality of being like something and to refer to comparisons and metaphor across prose and poetry.

In rhetoric and philosophy, similitudo could denote the act or effect of a comparison and appeared in

In medieval philosophy and theology, similitudo acquired a more specialized sense in debates about analogy and

In modern scholarly usage, similitudo is mainly encountered in the study of Latin language, literature, and

discussions
of
likeness
among
things,
properties,
or
ideas.
In
legal,
scientific,
and
religious
Latin
texts,
the
word
more
often
signals
general
resemblance
rather
than
a
precise
technical
term.
the
likeness
of
creatures
to
God.
Scholastic
writers
treated
similitudo
as
a
dimension
of
the
analogy
of
being
(analogia
entis),
explaining
how
creatures
bear
a
real
but
dependent
resemblance
to
the
divine
essence
without
implying
identity.
medieval
philosophy.
It
is
the
source
of
English
derivatives
such
as
similarity
and
similitudo
in
transliterations
of
Latin
texts.
The
word
is
typically
analyzed
within
discussions
of
rhetoric,
translation,
and
historical
semantics
rather
than
as
a
common
technical
term
in
contemporary
disciplines.