impersonator（n.）
1833年，“体现另一个人的人或角色”； 1840年，“使（某物）具有个性的人”； 1842年，“戏剧演员，扮演舞台角色”的意思，来自 impersonate 与拉丁代理名词后缀。娱乐目的的“模仿另一个人的举止和言谈”的意思（在1921年之前）可能源于早期戏剧用法，如 female impersonator（1876年）和 male impersonator（1874年），两者都曾是受欢迎的舞台表演； 后者的第一个例子可能是埃拉·韦斯纳小姐，她在约1870年风靡一时：在英国，黑脸表演者被称为 negro impersonators（1906年）。作为女性形式， impersonatrix，仿佛来自拉丁语，始于1847年； impersonatress，仿佛来自法语，始于1881年。
Her [Wesner's] impersonation were a genuine surprise and her success was so pronounced that in a short period a host of imitators made their appearance. Her most successful rivals were Bessie Bonehill, Millie Hilton and Vesta Tilley, all of London. [M.B Leavitt, "Fifty Years in Theatrical Management," New York, 1912]
她[韦斯纳]的模仿是一个真正的惊喜，她的成功是如此显著，以至于在短时间内，一大批模仿者出现了。她最成功的竞争对手是伦敦的贝西·邦希尔、米莉·希尔顿和维斯塔·蒂利。[M.B Leavitt，“Fifty Years in Theatrical Management”，纽约，1912]
There is no member of a minstrel company who gets a better salary than a good female impersonator, the line being considered a very delicate one, requiring a high style of art in its way to judge where fun stops and bad taste begins, with decision enough on the part of the performer to stop at the stopping place. ["The Ancestry of Brudder Bones," Harper's New Monthly Magazine, April 1879]
在黑人演员团队中，没有比一个优秀的女性模仿者获得更高薪水的成员，这一行被认为是非常微妙的，需要一种高水平的艺术来判断何时停止娱乐，何时开始不良品味，并且演员必须有足够的决心在停止的地方停下来。[“Brudder Bones 的祖先”，《哈珀新月刊》，1879年4月]
The most fascinating performer I knew in those days was a dame named Metcalfe who was a female female impersonator. To maintain the illusion and keep her job, she had to be a male impersonator when she wasn't on. Onstage she wore a wig, which she would remove at the finish, revealing her mannish haircut. "Fooled you!" she would boom at the audience in her husky baritone. Then she would stride off to her dressing room and change back into men's clothes. She fooled every audience she played to, and most of the managers she worked for, but her secret was hard to keep from the rest of the company. [Harpo Marx, "Harpo Speaks"]
我在那些日子里认识的最迷人的表演者是一位名叫梅特卡夫的女士，她是一位 female 女性模仿者。为了保持幻想并保住她的工作，她不在舞台上时必须成为一位男性模仿者。在舞台上，她戴着假发，表演结束时会摘下来，露出她的男子汉发型。她会在沙哑的男中音中对观众大喊：“骗了你们！”然后她会大步走向她的化妆室，换上男装。她骗过了她演出的每一个观众，也骗过了她工作的大多数经理，但她的秘密很难瞒过其他成员。[哈波·马克思，“哈波说话了”]
该词起源时间：1833年