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Etymology and origin of the French word vision

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
c. 1120, Psautier de Cambridge
Borrowed from
Latin visio
Ultimate origin
Latin videō
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin visio
French vision
From the same root
French télévision ← vision

Pronunciation

Forms

vision f (plural visions)[1] Old French visiun (about 1120); vision from the end of the 12th century.[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin vīsiō (“action of seeing; what is seen”),[3][4][5] from vīsum, the supine of videō (“to see”).[6][2] In Latin it also meant an image of things and, figuratively, a conception or idea, and in Late Latin law a point of view.[3] It is one of the two Latin action nouns of the verb, the other being vīsus, the source of visage.[3] Bloch and Wartburg note that the sense “vain image” was taken before the sense “action of seeing”, which the technical languages borrowed from the 16th century.[7]

Cognate with Old Occitan visio, Spanish visión and Italian visione.[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Psalter (about 1120) visiun is a perception of a supernatural reality.[4][6][3]

Semantic evolution

In religious use the word soon named the supernatural thing that appears (about 1190); in Old French it also meant an opinion (about 1150) and the mental image of something real (about 1170).[3] In the Middle Ages the sense “dream, apparition” was also expressed by avision, after aviser.[7] Jean de Meun uses it about 1265 for the action of seeing, and Ambroise Paré about 1560 for the physiological process of sight.[4][3][2] Theology spoke of the vision of God (1515, Jean Marot), whence vision béatifique (1657).[3]

From Calvin (1541) a vision is also an imaginary picture born of dreams or delirium, and by extension a wild idea, whence the familiar avoir des visions “to imagine things” (1680, Richelet).[3][4] In the 19th century it took the intellectual sense of a way of conceiving a complex whole (1834, Balzac), as in vision d'ensemble;[3][2] vision du monde follows German Weltanschauung.[3] In the cinema, première vision is a film's first public showing (1919).[4]

Timeline

  • c. 1120 – Visiun, a supernatural perception, in the Psalter.[2][3]
  • c. 1170 – Something seen, in the Livre des Rois.[4]
  • c. 1265 – Jean de Meun uses it for the action of seeing.[3][2]
  • 1515 – The vision of God in theology.[3][4]
  • 1541 – Calvin's visions et songes: imaginary pictures.[3]
  • c. 1560 – Paré uses it for the physiology of sight.[3][4]
  • c. 1610 – The derivative visionnaire.[3]
  • 1680 – Richelet records avoir des visions “to have fancies”.[4]
  • 1834 – Balzac uses it for a way of seeing things.[2][3]
  • 1863 – Vision binoculaire in Littré.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (physiology) sight, the perception of the outside world by the eyes, and the process by which light gives rise to visual sensations.[9][10]
  2. The action of seeing or looking at something.[10]
  3. A way of seeing or conceiving something complex: vision du monde, vision d'ensemble.[10][9][3]
  4. A mental image that forces itself on the mind; an imaginary picture.[10][4]
  5. A supernatural apparition or revelation.[4][3]
  6. Avoir des visions (familiar): to imagine things, talk nonsense.[3][4]

Word family

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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
  5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 14, 525b
  6. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, 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. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  9. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  10. ^ a b c d Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)

Derived terms

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Vision.” Etymologically, 22 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/vision. Accessed 22 Oct. 2026.

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