effigy

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈɛfəd͡ʒi/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French effigie,^[2][3][4][5] from Latin effigiēs (“likeness, copy, image”),^[2][3][4][5] from effingere “to form, portray”,^[2][3][4][5] from Latin ex- (“out”) + fingere (“to shape”),^[2][3][4][5] from Proto-Indo-European *dheigh- (“to form, build”).^[5][2] The Latin word was taken as a plural, and its -s was dropped by the 18th century.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A likeness, portrait or image of a person (1539).^[6][3][4][5]

Semantic evolution

The phrase in effigy appeared in 1617,^[6][4] and to hang or burn someone in effigy by the 1670s.^[4][5] Courts once did this as a symbolic punishment of criminals who had escaped them;^[5] later it became a popular way of expressing hatred of a person.^[5] So the word came to mean especially a crude dummy of a hated person,^[2][3][7] though it still names sculptured figures on tombs.^[6][7]

Timeline

• 1539 – a likeness, portrait or image.^[6][3][4]
• 1617 – in effigy.^[6][4]
• 1678 – to burn or hang in effigy.^[4]
• 1816 – verb, to represent.^[6]
• 1885 – effigy mound.^[6]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A crude figure or dummy representing a hated person or group.
2. A likeness or image of a person, especially a sculptured one on a monument.

Related words

• figure
• fiction
• feign

Usage notes

In effigy means publicly in the form of an effigy, as in the coach was burned in effigy.^[3][7]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b c Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House