imaginaire

Forms

imaginaire (plural imaginaires)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin imāginārius (“feigned, existing only in the imagination”), a word of the Imperial period,^[2][3][4] derived from imāgō (“image”).^[2][1][5] The Latin noun also gave image.^[2][3] Cognate with Old Occitan imaginari, Spanish imaginario and Italian immaginario.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in 1496, in Jean de Vignay's Miroir historial, for what seems real but is only an appearance: a man sees in a dream comme par vision imaginaire a tree of marvellous size.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Anglo-Norman already had ymaginaire, as a noun for a bearer of images (1271–1272) and as an adjective meaning “thinkable” (late 13th century).^[7]

In the 17th century Descartes used it in mathematics, with racines imaginaires in his Géométrie (1637) and espaces imaginaires;^[2][3][4] nombres imaginaires is recorded in 1902.^[2][3][4] Pascal used it in 1658 of a person who is something only in his own imagination, the sense of Molière's Malade imaginaire (1673).^[2][3][4]

As a noun, l'imaginaire has meant the realm of the imagination and its products since 1820 (Maine de Biran);^[2][3] in psychoanalysis Lacan made it one of the registers of the psyche (1966), marked by the relation to the image of one's like.^[3][8]

Timeline

• 1496 – First record in French, in Jean de Vignay's Miroir historial.^[2][9]
• 1637 – Descartes speaks of racines imaginaires in mathematics.^[2][10]
• 1658 – Pascal uses it of people who are what they are only in their own minds.^[2][3]
• 1673 – Molière's Le Malade imaginaire.^[4][3]
• 1820 – Maine de Biran uses l'imaginaire as a noun.^[2][3]
• 1902 – Nombres imaginaires appears in the Nouveau Larousse illustré.^[2]
• 1966 – Lacan makes the imaginary a register of psychoanalysis.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Imaginary, existing only in the imagination; fictitious, unreal: un pays imaginaire.^[9][11][8]
2. Being such only in one's own imagination: un malade imaginaire, a hypochondriac.^[9][8][11]
3. (mathematics) Imaginary: nombre imaginaire, partie imaginaire of a complex number.^[9][11][8]

Noun

1. The realm of the imagination and its products: l'imaginaire et le réel.^[11][8][2]
2. (psychoanalysis) The imaginary, in Lacan's sense.^[8][3]
3. (mathematics) An imaginary number.^[1]

Word family

• imaginairement

Related words

• image
• imaginer
• imagination
• Latin imāginārius

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
5. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
8. ^ a b c d e f Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
9. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
11. ^ a b c d Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)