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Etymology and origin of the French word image

History Permalink
Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
c. 1050, Vie de saint Alexis (imagine)
Borrowed from
Latin imago
Ultimate origin
Latin (imāgō)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin imago
French image

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /i.maʒ/[1]

Forms

image f (plural images)[1] Old French imagene, imagine (about 1050), remade as image about 1160; also ymage.[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin imāgō (“likeness, portrait; image of the dead; copy; comparison”), from the accusative “imāginem”.[5][2][3][6][7] Rey and the Petit Robert relate it to a root “im-” of obscure origin, also in imitor (“to imitate”) (compare imiter).[2][8] Littré notes that, had it been inherited, it would have had another form.[9]

Cognate with Romanian imagine, Italian immagine, Occitan imatge, Spanish imagen and Portuguese imagem.[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first sense, in the Life of Saint Alexis (about 1050), is a statue; the Chanson de Roland has une imagene Apolin, an idol of Apollo.[5][2][9]

Semantic evolution

In the 12th century it meant a vision in a dream (Eneas, about 1160) and any pictorial representation (Chrétien de Troyes, 1176), whence sage comme une image (Sévigné, 1674) and image d'Épinal (1873).[5][2][10] À l'image de “in the likeness of” is in the Jeu d'Adam (about 1180), and Marie de France (1180) has the reflection in a polished surface.[5][2]

Brunetto Latini (about 1265) used it as a figure of speech, an analogy (par ymage u par comparison), and, from 1550 it meant the visible symbol of something abstract.[5][2] From Descartes (1647) it became a key word of psychology, a mental representation, at first used interchangeably with idée.[5][2] Photography (images daguerriennes, 1843), film and television extended it to every kind of reproduced picture, and to the public image of a person or brand (image de marque).[5][1]

Timeline

  • c. 1050 – Imagine “statue”, Life of Saint Alexis.[5]
  • c. 1160 – A vision in a dream, Eneas.[5]
  • 1176 – A picture, Chrétien de Troyes.[5]
  • 1180 – A reflection, Marie de France.[5]
  • c. 1265 – A figure of speech, Brunetto Latini.[5]
  • 1647 – A mental image, Descartes.[5]
  • 1674 – Sage comme une image, Madame de Sévigné.[10]
  • 1843 – A photographic image.[5]
  • 1873 – Image d'Épinal.[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A picture, illustration, print: un livre d'images, image d'Épinal, a naive, idealized picture.[1][4]
  2. A reflection: voir son image dans une glace.[8][2]
  3. (optics, photography, television) An image; a frame: arrêt sur image.[8][1]
  4. A mental picture, representation: l'image qu'il garde de son père.[1][5]
  5. A likeness: à l'image de, c'est l'image de son père.[9][5]
  6. A figure of speech, metaphor: un style plein d'images.[5][2]
  7. Public image: image de marque.[1]
  8. Sage comme une image: as good as gold.[10][1]

Word family

  • imager
  • imagerie
  • imagier

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  3. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  4. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r 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. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 4, 564b
  8. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  9. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  10. ^ a b c Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Image.” Etymologically, 18 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/image. Accessed 18 Oct. 2026.

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