Editing Memetics (section)

=== Etymology ===
The term ''meme'' derives from the [[Greek language|Ancient Greek]] μιμητής (''mimētḗs''), meaning "imitator, pretender". The similar term ''mneme'' was used in 1904, by the German evolutionary biologist [[Richard Semon]], best known for his development of the [[engram (neuropsychology)|engram]] theory of [[memory]], in his work ''Die mnemischen Empfindungen in ihren Beziehungen zu den Originalempfindungen'', translated into English in 1921 as ''The Mneme''.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Semon |first1=Richard Wolfgang |title=The Mneme |date=1921 |publisher=Allen & Unwin |location=London |url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924100387210/page/n10 |access-date=17 June 2019}}</ref> Until [[Daniel Schacter]] published ''Forgotten Ideas, Neglected Pioneers: Richard Semon and the Story of Memory'' in 2000, Semon's work had little influence, though it was quoted extensively in [[Erwin Schrödinger]]’s 1956 [[Tarner Lecture]] “[[What is Life? (Schrödinger)|Mind and Matter]]”. Richard Dawkins (1976) apparently coined the word ''meme'' independently of Semon, writing this:
<blockquote>{{"'}}Mimeme' comes from a suitable Greek root, but I want a monosyllable that sounds a bit like 'gene'. I hope my classicist friends will forgive me if I abbreviate mimeme to meme. If it is any consolation, it could alternatively be thought of as being related to 'memory', or to the French word même."<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EJeHTt8hW7UC&q=%22'Mimeme'+comes+from+a+suitable+Greek+root,+but+I+want+a+monosyllable+that+sounds+a+bit+like+'gene'.+I+hope+my+classicist+friends+will+forgive+me+if+I+abbreviate+mimeme+to+meme.+If+it+is+any+consolation,+it+could+alternatively+be+thought+of+as+being+related+to+'memory',+or+to+the+French+word+m%C3%AAme.%22&pg=PA192|title=The Selfish Gene: 30th Anniversary edition|last=Dawkins|first=Richard|date=2006-03-16|publisher=Oxford UP|isbn=9780191537554|pages=182|language=en}}</ref></blockquote>[[David Hull (philosopher)|David Hull]] (2001) pointed out Dawkins's oversight of Semon's work. Hull suggests this early work as an alternative origin to memetics by which Dawkins's memetic theory and classicist connection to the concept can be negotiated.<blockquote>"Why not date the beginnings of memetics (or mnemetics) as 1904 or at the very least 1914? If [Semon's] two publications are taken as the beginnings of memetics, then the development of memetics [...] has been around for almost a hundred years without much in the way of conceptual or empirical advance!"<ref name="Hull 43–67">{{Citation |last=Hull |first=David L. |title=Taking memetics seriously: Memetics will be what we make it |date=2001-01-04 |work=Darwinizing CultureThe Status of Memetics as a Science |pages=43–67 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780192632449.003.0003 |access-date=2022-12-18 |publisher=Oxford University Press |doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780192632449.003.0003 |isbn=978-0-19-263244-9|url-access=subscription }}</ref></blockquote>Despite this, Semon's work remains mostly understood as distinct to memetic origins even with the overt similarities accounted for by Hull.