allegory

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈælɪɡəɹi/, /ˈælɪɡɹi/ (UK); /ˈæləˌɡɔɹi/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English allegorie,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Latin allēgoria,^{[2][5][3][4][6]} partly through Old French allegorie,^[3][6] from Ancient Greek ἀλληγορία (allēgoría, “figurative language, a speaking otherwise”),^{[2][5][3][4][6][7]} from allēgoreîn “to speak figuratively”, from Ancient Greek ἄλλος (állos, “other, different”) + ἀγορεύω (agoreúō, “to speak in the assembly”),^{[2][5][3][4][6]} from agorá “assembly, public place” (see agora).^[2][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Description of one subject under the guise of another with a suggestive resemblance (1382 in the OED; about 1384 in Barnhart; late 14th century in Etymonline).^[8][5][3]

Semantic evolution

An allegory is literally a “speaking about something else”.^[3][7] By 1534 the word also meant an individual figurative narrative or discourse,^[8] and later an allegorical picture or emblem (before 1639).^[8][9] The Elizabethan critic George Puttenham called allegory “a long and perpetuall Metaphore” (1589).^[3] Allegoric dates from about 1395 and allegorical from 1528.^[5]

Timeline

• 1382 – figurative description of one thing under another.^[8]
• about 1395 – allegoric.^[5]
• 1534 – an allegorical narrative.^[8]
• 1554 – verb, to allegorize.^[8]
• before 1639 – an emblem.^[8]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A literary, dramatic or pictorial device in which characters and events stand for abstract ideas or principles, so that the literal sense suggests a deeper, symbolic one.
2. A story, picture or play using this device, such as Pilgrim's Progress.
3. A symbolic representation; an emblem.

Word family

• allegorist
• allegoristic

Related words

• agora
• allegorical
• allegorize
• allegorise
• category
• metaphor
• parable
• alien

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
6. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House