persona
Pronunciation
Etymology
It is borrowed from Latin persōna (“mask; character, role”),[2][3][4][5] the word that also gave, through Old French persone, person and parson.[6][2] The Latin noun first meant a mask, especially one worn by an actor, then a character played by an actor, and later an individual human being.[6][2] Its origin is unknown; it may be a loanword, and both the OED and Ayto compare Etruscan phersu, apparently a mask.[2][6] Several of the uses of the Latin word follow those of Ancient Greek πρόσωπον (prósōpon, “face, mask, person”).[2][7]
Earliest recorded meaning
An assumed character or role, especially one adopted by an author in his writing; also a character in a play or story: 1732, in Bentley's preface to Paradise Lost.[2] Merriam-Webster also dates the word to 1732.[5]
Semantic evolution
The word was taken over in the sense the Latin had in the theatre, a character or role.[6][2] In the 20th century it came to mean the side of a person's character that is shown to others (1902),[2] and in 1917 Jung's psychology made it a technical term for the outer attitude a person adopts to fit a social role,[2][8][9] which Merriam-Webster notes is often contrasted with the anima.[5] Etymonline records an earlier use by Ezra Pound in 1909 for a literary character voicing the author,[9] and Barnhart dates that literary sense to 1958.[8] By the 1930s, according to Barnhart, the psychological sense had been generalized to a person's outward image or façade, as in a public persona.[8] The plural personae is kept for characters in fiction, personas being usual for public images.[5]
Timeline
- 1732 – an assumed role; a dramatic or literary character.[2][5]
- 1902 – the side of one's character shown to others.[2]
- 1909 – in Ezra Pound, a literary character voicing the author.[9]
- 1917 – in Jungian psychology, the outer attitude adopted for a social role.[2][8][9]
- 1930s – a person's public image or façade.[8]
Meanings
Noun
- The image or personality a person presents to the world, as distinct from the private self: The comedian's brash stage persona hid a shy man.[5][4][2]
- A character or role taken on by an author or performer; the speaking voice of a literary work.[4][2][10]
- (psychology) In Jungian psychology, the outward attitude a person adopts to fit a social role, which hides the inner self.[4][5][2]
- (usually plural personae) A character in a play, novel or other fiction.[5][4]
Related words
- person
- parson
- personality
- personage
- impersonate
- personnel
Usage notes
Merriam-Webster gives the plural personae for the characters of a fiction and personas for the social front;[5] Collins gives personae, and the Shorter Oxford both forms.[4][10] The phrases persona grata and persona non grata, an acceptable and an unacceptable person, originally of diplomats, come from Late Latin.[9] Weekley also notes in propria persona.[11]
References
- ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
- ^ a b c d Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
- ^ Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
- ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
- ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
- ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray