φαντασία

Forms

φᾰντᾰσῐ́ᾱ (phantasíā) f (genitive φᾰντᾰσῐ́ᾱς); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek φαντάζω (phantázō, “to make visible”) + -ία (-íā), the verbal noun of the middle φαντάζομαι (phantázomai, “to appear; to imagine”), whose sense follows φαίνομαι (phaínomai, “to appear”).^[2][1] The verb comes from φαίνω (phaínō, “to show, bring to light”).^[1][3][4]

Aristotle derived the name from φάος (pháos, “light”), because sight is the chief sense and without light one cannot see.^[4][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Plato, in the 5th–4th century BC.^[5][6] In the Theaetetus it is the way things appear to someone, which the speaker equates with perception.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Plato's Sophist defines it as a blend of perception and opinion.^[2] Aristotle makes it a faculty of the soul, imagination, distinct from both perception and thought, and defines it as a movement produced by perception at work.^[2][7] For the Stoics it is an impression stamped on the soul, and Zeno's “cognitive impression” became their test of truth.^[2]

In ordinary Hellenistic prose it means the outward appearance of a thing, and in Polybius also a person's public image and the display meant to create one.^[7][2] The New Testament has it once, for the pomp with which Agrippa arrives in Acts.^[8] Later writers use it for creative imagination, which Philostratus calls a wiser artist than imitation, and Longinus and Plutarch for vivid imagery in literature.^[2]

Latin borrowed it as phantasia, the source, through Old French, of English fantasy.^[9][3] Coptic borrowed it as well.^[10] Modern Greek φαντασία (fantasía) is a learned word for imagination, and one newer sense is taken from Italian fantasia.^[11][4]

Timeline

• 5th–4th century BC – Plato's Theaetetus equates appearance with perception, and the Sophist calls it a blend of perception and opinion.^[2][6]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle treats it as the faculty of imagination in On the Soul.^[2][7][6]
• 3rd century BC – Chrysippus defines it as an imprint in the soul.^[2][6]
• 2nd century BC – Polybius uses it for outward appearance, public image and ostentation.^[7][2][6]
• 1st century AD – Acts describes Agrippa arriving with great pomp.^[8]
• 2nd–3rd century AD – Philostratus calls creative imagination a wiser artist than imitation.^[2][6]
• About AD 800 – Sahidic Coptic texts have the loanword Coptic ⲫⲁⲛⲧⲁⲥⲓⲁ (phantasia).^[10]
• Modern Greek – The learned φαντασία (fantasía) means “imagination”.^[11][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. Appearing, appearance; a presentation to the mind, whether true or illusory.^[2][7]
2. A mental image, a picture in the mind; a vision; an apparition.^[2][7]
3. Imagination, the faculty of forming images, distinct from perception and thought.^[2][7]
4. (Stoicism) An impression on the soul.^[2]
5. Creative imagination.^[2]
6. (rhetoric) The use of imagery in speech and poetry.^[2]
7. Outward appearance, look.^[7][2]
8. Public image, reputation; display, ostentation, pomp.^[7][8]

Related words

• φαντάζω (phantázō)
• φάντασμα (phántasma)
• φανταστικός (phantastikós)
• φαίνω (phaínō)
• Latin phantasia
• English fantasy

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d Etygram: ancient etymologies of Greek words, CEPAM, Université Côte d'Azur, http://appsweb-cepam.unice.fr/etygram
5. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
6. ^ a b c d e f Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
8. ^ a b c Bauer, Walter; Danker, Frederick W., et al. (2000), A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed., Chicago: University of Chicago Press
9. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
10. ^ a b Database and Dictionary of Greek Loanwords in Coptic (DDGLC), Freie Universität Berlin and Universität Leipzig
11. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki