illusion

Forms

illusion f (plural illusions)^[1] Old French illusiun (about 1120); illusion from the 13th century.^[2][3] Anglo-Norman illusioun.^[4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin illūsiō (“irony, mockery”),^{[5][6][7][1][8]} a noun from illūdō (“to make sport of, to mock”), formed from in- and lūdō (“to play”).^[6][3][2] In classical Latin the noun was the rhetorical figure of irony;^[5][6] Christian Latin gave it the senses “mockery, object of derision” and “deception, error of the senses, mirage”.^[5][6]

Cognate with Old Occitan illusio, Spanish ilusión and Italian illusione.^[9] English illusion comes from the Old French word, first in the mid-14th century in the sense “mockery”.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Oxford Psalter (first half of the 12th century) has illusiun for “mockery, scorn” and “an object of ridicule”, after the Christian Latin senses: Fait sumes reproce à nos veisins et illusiun “we are become a reproach to our neighbours and a mockery”.^[5][9]

Semantic evolution

The sense “mockery” died out.^[6] About 1223 Gautier de Coinci uses the word for a false appearance or deceptive vision,^[5][6] and in the 16th century it is still used of dreams and visions sent by the devil, as in Calvin's illusions de Satan.^[9][2] From the false appearance came the error of perception that it causes, with illusion d’optique (1756) and illusion optique (1761, Rousseau), the first also used figuratively of a wrong point of view.^[6]

Cotgrave records it in 1611 for a conjuring trick, and the Encyclopédie (1765) uses it of the stage's power to make the spectator believe.^[5][6] In the abstract the word came to mean a false but attractive belief (1611), whence se faire des illusions, sans illusions and faire illusion “to deceive” (1767).^[6] The clipped illuse seems to date from the 1930s or 1940s.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 1120 – Illusiun “mockery” in the Oxford Psalter.^[5][2]
• c. 1223 – A deceptive appearance, in Gautier de Coinci.^[5]
• 1611 – Cotgrave records the sense “conjuring trick”.^[5]
• 1690 – Furetière speaks of the illusions of optics.^[5]
• 1756 – Illusion d’optique.^[6]
• 1765 – The Encyclopédie uses it of the theatre.^[5]
• 1767 – Faire illusion “to deceive”.^[6]
• 1801 – The verb illusionner appears.^[6][7]

Meanings

Noun

1. An error of perception caused by a false appearance: une illusion d’optique.^[11][12][5]
2. An effect of art or artifice that gives the feeling of the real: a painted decor that gives the illusion of depth.^[12][11]
3. A false belief that one holds because it is pleasing: perdre ses illusions, se faire des illusions.^[12][6]
4. Faire illusion: to give a false impression, to deceive.^[12][6]

Word family

• illusionner
• désillusion
• désillusionner
• illusionnisme
• illusionniste

Related words

• illusoire
• Latin illūsiō
• English illusion

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
3. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
8. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 4, 561b
9. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
10. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
12. ^ a b c d Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)