Etymologically
Log in

immagine

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 21 October 2026 at 21:10. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • /imˈma.d͡ʒi.ne/[1]

Forms

immagine f (plural immagini, diminutive immaginina or immaginétta, pejorative immaginùccia)[1] The literary form is imagine; older literary forms include imago, immago and image.[2][3][4] Maggine is an old Florentine and Lucchese form.[5][6]

Etymology

It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin imāgō (“likeness, portrait; appearance, phantom”), taken from the accusative ⟨imaginem⟩.[5][7][8][6] The Latin word spread widely in the language of the Bible and of the Church.[5] The double ⟨mm⟩ is explained by Nocentini as an alignment with words beginning with the prefix in-, and by Sabatini–Coletti and DELI, after Migliorini, as a doubling after the first vowel of words stressed on the third-last syllable.[7][9][5] Forms with ⟨imag-⟩ and ⟨immag-⟩ alternated into the 18th century.[5]

A popular development of the Latin word survived in the old form Old Italian maina and in Friulian maine (“wayside chapel”).[6][10] The learned word has parallels in French image, whence image, Spanish imagen, Portuguese imagem and Catalan imatge.[7][10]

DELI calls the origin of the Latin word uncertain.[5] It is usually connected with imitor (“to copy, imitate”): Nocentini and de Vaan derive both from an unrecorded verb, which may in turn be related to aemulus (“rivalling”).[7][11][3] De Vaan sets up a Proto-Italic *imā- and a poorly attested root Proto-Indo-European *h₂eym- (“to copy”), comparing Hittite ḫimma- (“imitation, substitute”).[11][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is maggine in a Florentine text of 1291, for a likeness of a person or thing;[5][8] Brunetto Latini has imagine before 1294.[5][8] Dante uses imagine for the outward form of a body seen by the eye in the Convivio (1304–1308), where images are reflected sì come ne lo specchio (“as in a mirror”).[5][12]

Semantic evolution

Dante also has the short form image in the Purgatorio: guizza dentro allo specchio vostra image (“your image quivers in the mirror”).[12][5] The sense of a mental picture is in Dante before 1294, the symbolic sense in 1300–1313, and the sense of a painted or carved figure in 1313–1319; the spelling immagine appears before 1333 in Arrigo Simintendi and became usual later.[5]

The derivatives came early: imaginazione in Dante before 1294, imaginare before 1303 and immaginario in 1354.[5] Immaginifico was coined in 1728 by Anton Maria Salvini to render a Greek word of Plato, and was later applied to Gabriele D'Annunzio.[5][7] In the 20th century the word took on the sense of the public image of a person or company, a calque of English image recorded in 1966 and 1971.[5][9][2] Zoology uses it, or imagine, for the adult stage of an insect, and optics for the figure formed by a lens or mirror.[5][13]

Timeline

  • 1291 – Maggine is recorded in a Florentine text.[5][8]
  • Before 1294 – Brunetto Latini uses imagine.[5]
  • 1304–1308 – Dante uses imagine in the Convivio.[5]
  • 1313–1319 – Dante uses image in the Purgatorio.[5]
  • Before 1333 – The spelling immagine appears.[5]
  • 1728 – Anton Maria Salvini coins immaginifico.[5]
  • 1956 – The zoological and optical senses are recorded.[5]
  • 1966 – The sense “public image”, from English, is recorded.[9]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The outward form of a body as the senses, especially sight, perceive it; a reflection: Si guardava l'immagine nella vetrina.[8][2][13]
  2. (optics) The figure of an object formed by a lens, mirror or other optical system.[13][14]
  3. A mental picture produced by memory or imagination; a vision: Ho ancora davanti l'immagine di quella spiaggia.[8][9][15]
  4. The image a person, firm or institution presents to the public: Il partito vuole rinnovare la sua immagine.[8][2][14]
  5. A concrete expression or symbol of something abstract: Mia nonna era l'immagine della serenità.[8][13]
  6. A picture, a drawing, photograph or sculpture; a frame of a film: un libro pieno di immagini.[8][2][15]
  7. A sacred image, an effigy of a saint or of the Madonna.[8][9]
  8. (literature) A figurative expression, a metaphor: parlare per immagini.[8][13]
  9. (zoology) The imago, the adult stage of an insect.[5][1]

Word family

  • immaginabile
  • immaginare
  • immaginario
  • immaginativa
  • immaginativo
  • immaginazione
  • immaginifico
  • immaginoso
  • immaginetta

Usage notes

A immagine e somiglianza di, “in the image and likeness of”, comes from the account of the creation of man in Genesis.[13][14]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  3. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
  4. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  6. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1947
  7. ^ a b c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  9. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  10. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  11. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  12. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 7, 343
  13. ^ a b c d e f Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  14. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  15. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli