φανταστικός

Forms

φᾰντᾰστῐκός (phantastikós) m (feminine φᾰντᾰστῐκή, neuter φᾰντᾰστῐκόν); first/second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek φαντάζω (phantázō, “to make visible, (middle) to imagine”) + -τικός (-tikós).^[1][2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plato uses it in the Sophist, where the φανταστικὴ τέχνη is the art of making semblances or illusions, set beside the art that makes true likenesses.^[4][2]

Semantic evolution

Aristotle uses the neuter τὸ φανταστικόν for the faculty of imagination in his treatise on sleep, and Plutarch has it in the same sense, the part of the mind that makes images of what the senses perceive.^[2][4] The adjective came to mean able to imagine or to call up images.^[2][5]

Through Late Latin phantasticus and Old French it gave English fantastic, first “existing only in imagination”.^[6] Modern Greek has it as the learned φανταστικός (fantastikós), “imaginary”, and in its later senses (“wonderful”, “fantastic”) it follows French fantastique and the English word.^[7]

Timeline

• 5th–4th century BC – Plato's Sophist names the art of making illusions φανταστική.^[4][2][8]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses τὸ φανταστικόν for the faculty of imagination.^[2][8]
• 1st–2nd century AD – Plutarch uses the neuter for the imagination.^[4][2][8]
• Late 14th century – English borrows fantastic through Old French and Latin.^[6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of the making of semblances or illusions; ἡ φανταστική (sc. τέχνη), the art of making them.^[4][2]
2. Able to imagine; τὸ φανταστικόν, the imagination as a faculty of the mind.^[4][2][3]

Related words

• φαντασία (phantasía)
• φάντασμα (phántasma)
• Latin phantasticus
• English fantastic

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Bailly, Anatole (2020), Dictionnaire grec-français, Bailly 2020 Hugo Chávez ed., ed. Gérard Gréco et al.
3. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard, Griechisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, online ed., https://www.koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c d e f Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
5. ^ Korinthios, J. (2025), Grande Dizionario Greco Classico: Greco–Italiano, digital ed., Milan: Hoepli
6. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
8. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge