Did the Romans have anything artificial? Which words did they use to describe it?

Question

I am looking for a word or set of words to describe artificial items or materials. Maybe my shoes are made of artificial leather instead of the real thing, or maybe a crown is made of fake gold. What would be good words in this direction? Are there any that do not have negative connotations?

I can imagine using falsus in some contexts, but it sounds negative in tone like "fake". My best guess is something based on simulare, like simulamen which Lewis and Short translate as "a copy, an imitation". The word artificialis appears to mean "pertaining to art" more than "artificial" in the modern sense of the English word, so I'm not convinced it is a good choice.

My main question is: If the Romans had anything artificial (materials or items used as replacements of the natural or expected ones), what words did they use to express it? If it's hard to find such attestations, nearby concepts like "fake" are also welcome.

Answer 1

Possibilities:

• arte factus, -a, -um

For example, Florus (1, 18) writes of the preternatural speed at which the Romans built their fleet:

Duilio Cornelioque consulibus etiam mari congredi ausus est. Tum quidem ipsa velocitas classis comparatae victoriae auspicium fuit. Intra enim sexagensimum diem quam caesa silva fuerat centum sexaginta navium classis in anchoris stetit, ut non arte factae, sed quodam munere deorum conversae in naves atque mutatae arbores viderentur.

In the year of the consuls Duilius and Cornelius, [the Roman people] even dared engage the enemy at sea. Indeed, at that point the speed itself with which the fleet was constructed served as an omen of victory; for within sixty days of the cutting of the forest, a fleet of 160 ships lay at anchor, such that it seemed it was not man-made, but that the trees had by some work of the gods been converted and turned into ships.

• manu factus, -a, -um

For example Cicero (Off. 2, 14):

Adde ductus aquarum, derivationes fluminum, agrorum inrigationes, moles oppositas fluctibus, portus manu factos, quae unde sine hominum opere habere possemus?

And then take the aqueducts, redirections of rivers, irrigation of fields, dams against the floods, artificial harbours, how could we have these things without the work of men?

Answer 2

Suggestions from comments:

• Check adulterinus on L&S.

• Post-classical: facticius, ficticius.

• Perhaps ab homine factus/fictus by analogy to "man-made"?

• Isn't Classical artificiālis the exact Latin etymology of current "artificial"? It is in Spanish, at least.

Feel free to add individual suggestions here if you don't want to write a full answer. (Community wiki answers like this earn no reputation to anyone.) Also, feel free to take any of these suggestions and expand it into a fuller answer with at least some attestations and discussion.

Answer 3

I am reminded by Seneca's Letter 90:

Non habebant domos instar urbium. Spiritus ac liber inter aperta perflatus et levis umbra rupis aut arboris et perlucidi fontes rivique non opere nec fistula nec ullo coacto itinere obsolefacti, sed sponte currentes et prata sine arte formosa...

I read coactus here to mean artificial. It matches L&S: "forced, constrained, unnatural".