Etymologically
Log in

imagen

History Permalink

Etymology and origin of the Spanish word imagen

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1194–1211 Liber regum, in an early 13th-century copy More words from the 12th century
Borrowed from
Latin imago
Ultimate origin
Latin imago
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin imāgō
French image
Italian immagine
Spanish imagen
From the same root
Latin imāginārius ← imāgō
Latin imāginor ← imāgō

Pronunciation

  • /iˈmaxen/, [iˈma.xẽn][1]

Forms

imagen f (plural imágenes)[1] Old Spanish wrote ymagen, ymaien or ymajen, with the plural ymagines or imágines.[2] The semi-popular omagen appears in one manuscript of the Libro de Alexandre.[3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin imāgō (“representation, portrait, image”).[3][4][5] Frequent at all periods, it soon became a popular word as a religious term.[3] The form omagen in the Libro de Alexandre has a match in Old and dialect Portuguese.[3][6]

The learned word is also Portuguese imagem, Galician imaxe, Asturian imaxe, Catalan imatge, French image and Italian immagine.[7][1] Old Catalan had imagen and then image before the modern form.[8] Old French had imagene before image.[9]

The Latin noun and the frequentative imitor (“to copy, imitate”) both go back to an earlier verb.[3][10] De Vaan compares aemulus (“rivalling”) and reconstructs *imā-, from a poorly attested root.[10] Wiktionary gives it as Proto-Indo-European *h₂eym- (“to imitate”).[1] The popular Spanish relative of the Latin frequentative is remedar “to mimic”.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Liber regum (1194–1211, in a copy of the early 13th century) tells of a man who had himself held as a god and puso la imagen de so ydola en el temple de Iherusalem “put the image of his idol in the temple of Jerusalem”.[11][2] In the Vida de Santa María Egipcíaca (c. 1215, in a 14th-century copy) the saint sees huna imagen de santa María, a carved image of the Virgin.[11] Corominas's first record is in Berceo's Milagros.[3][4]

Semantic evolution

In Alfonso X's prose the word means a figure or representation, such as the figure of a constellation, and a statue or painting of Christ, the Virgin or a saint.[12] Autoridades also uses it figuratively for a perfect face, especially a woman's.[13] The rhetorical sense, a vivid representation in words, is in Salvá.[14] The Academy's dictionary of 1869 has the phrase quedar para vestir imágenes, said of women who reach a certain age unmarried.[14][15] The optical image formed by rays of light enters in 1899.[16]

Modern Spanish also uses it for the public image of a person or institution and for mental images.[17] Medicine now speaks of imagen médica “medical imaging”.[5][18] In Honduras and Bolivia an imagen en bulto is a sculpted saint.[19]

Timeline

  • 1194–1211 – the Liber regum (in an early 13th-century copy).[11][2]
  • c. 1215 – the Vida de Santa María Egipcíaca: an image of the Virgin.[11]
  • 1220–1250 – Berceo's Milagros, Corominas's first record.[3][4]
  • 1250–1279 – the Alfonsine Lapidario speaks of the figure of Taurus.[12]
  • early 14th century – the verb imaginar is first recorded.[4]
  • c. 1440 – imaginería is first recorded.[4]
  • 1513 – the first record from the Americas, in Puerto Rico.[20]
  • 1726–1739 – Autoridades adds the figurative “perfect face”.[13]
  • 1869 – the Academy records quedar para vestir imágenes.[15]
  • 1899 – the optical sense enters the Academy's dictionary.[16]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A figure, representation, likeness or appearance of something.[5][1]
  2. A statue, effigy or painting of a deity or sacred figure: Sacaron la imagen de la Virgen en procesión.[5]
  3. (optics) An image of an object formed by the rays of light coming from it.[5][17]
  4. (rhetoric) A recreation of reality through imaginary elements, a poetic image or figure.[5]
  5. The public image of a person or institution: La empresa quiere mejorar su imagen.[17]
  6. A mental picture of something.[17]

Word family

  • imaginero
  • imaginería

Usage notes

The plural imágenes carries a written accent.[1] Quedar para vestir imágenes, literally “to be left to dress the images (of saints)”, is a colloquial phrase for a woman who has stayed unmarried.[21]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. imagen
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 443
  4. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. imagen
  5. ^ a b c d e f Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. imagen
  6. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. 1850
  7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. imago
  8. ^ Coromines, Joan (1980–2001), Diccionari etimològic i complementari de la llengua catalana, 10 vols., Barcelona: Curial / La Caixa (online ed., Institut d'Estudis Catalans 2024), p. 4, 838
  9. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. image
  10. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  11. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. imagen
  12. ^ a b Kasten, Lloyd A.; Nitti, John J.; Gago Jover, Francisco (2002–), Diccionario de la prosa castellana del Rey Alfonso X, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (electronic edition 2024), p. s.v. imagen
  13. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 4, 212
  14. ^ a b Salvá, Vicente (1846), Nuevo diccionario de la lengua castellana, París: Librería de Don Vicente Salvá, p. 603
  15. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 425
  16. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 546
  17. ^ a b c d Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. imagen
  18. ^ Real Academia Nacional de Medicina (2011), Diccionario de términos médicos, Madrid: Editorial Médica Panamericana; online at https://dtme.ranm.es, p. s.v. imagen
  19. ^ Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. imagen
  20. ^ Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, p. s.v. imagen
  21. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 585

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Imagen.” Etymologically, 7 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/es/imagen. Accessed 7 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·