imagem

Forms

imagem f (plural imagens)^[1] Old Galician-Portuguese wrote imagem, ymagem, ymagen and omagem, and imagẽe in the 14th century.^[2][3] Feijó (1734) still sets omagem beside imagem.^[4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin imāgō (“likeness, representation, portrait”), taken from the stem of its oblique cases, as in the accusative imāginem.^[2][1][5] The REW lists the Portuguese word among the learned forms.^[6] Beside it the old language had Old Galician-Portuguese omagen and ymagen;^[3][7] Corominas calls the form with o- semi-popular and notes it in Old Spanish and in old and dialectal Portuguese.^[3][7]

The same Latin word gave Galician imaxe, Spanish imagen, Catalan imatge, French image and Italian immagine.^[6][1]

De Vaan derives the Latin noun, together with imitor (“to copy, imitate”), from an earlier verb, and reconstructs Proto-Indo-European *h₂i-m-h₂- (“image”), comparing Hittite himma- (“imitation, substitute”).^[8][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first records, in the 13th century, are religious: the Cantigas de Santa Maria tell of hũa omagen of the Virgin painted on a wall.^[10][3] The sense is that of a picture or statue representing a holy person.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The general senses of the Latin word came with it: a likeness, a reflection in a mirror or in water, and the picture of a thing in the mind.^[3] Morais (1789) defines it as a figure or appearance of anything, painted, carved or imagined, and also one represented in words.^[11] Vieira's examples include Deus creou o homem á sua imagem “God created man in his image”.^[12]

Later senses came from optics, photography, television and mathematics (the image formed by a lens, the picture on a screen, the value of a function), while in public life a person's or a company's imagem is the opinion others have of them.^[2][1] In Brazil a imagem is also a small medal with a saint worn on a chain.^[13]

Timeline

• 13th century – omagen in the Cantigas de Santa Maria;^[10][2] imagem and ymagem in the same century.^[10][2]
• 14th century – the spelling imagẽe.^[3]
• 1522 – ymagem in a private letter.^[14]
• 1569 – Cardoso glosses imagem with Latin imago.^[15]
• 1734 – Feijó contrasts imagem and omagem.^[4]
• 1789 – Morais defines it as a figure, painted, carved or imagined.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A representation of a person or thing in a drawing, painting, sculpture or photograph.^[2][16][1]
2. A picture or statue of a saint, of Christ or the Virgin, made for worship: uma imagem de Santo António.^[2][16]
3. A small printed picture, especially one with a religious subject.^[2][17]
4. A reflection in a mirror or in water;^[2][17][1] (optics) the figure formed by the rays of light passing through a lens or mirror.^[2][17][1]
5. A picture produced by technical means, on film, television or a screen.^[2][18]
6. A person or thing that closely resembles another; a likeness: O filho é a imagem do avô.^[2][19]
7. A person who embodies something abstract; a personification.^[2][19]
8. The opinion that the public has of a person, institution or product; one's reputation.^[2][1]
9. A mental picture of something perceived or imagined.^[2][1]
10. (literature) A metaphor or figure of speech.^[2][20]
11. (mathematics) The value that a function gives to an element.^[2][1]
12. (figurative) A very beautiful person.^[2][20]

Related words

• imaginação
• imaginar
• imaginário
• imaginoso
• imago
• imaginativo
• Latin imāgō
• Spanish imagen

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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 Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. imagem
3. ^ a b c d e f Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. imagem
4. ^ a b Feijó, João de Morais Madureira (1734), Orthographia, ou Arte de escrever, e pronunciar com acerto a lingua portugueza, Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. imagem
5. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. imagem
6. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. imago
7. ^ a b Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 443
8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c Instituto da Lingua Galega, Dicionario de dicionarios do galego medieval (DDGM), ed. Ernesto González Seoane, Santiago de Compostela: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, https://ilg.usc.gal/ddgm, p. s.v. parede
11. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1789), Diccionario da lingua portugueza composto pelo padre D. Rafael Bluteau, reformado, e accrescentado, 2 vols., Lisboa: Simão Thaddeo Ferreira, p. 1, 94
12. ^ Vieira, Frei Domingos (1871–1874), Grande Diccionario Portuguez ou Thesouro da lingua portugueza, 5 vols., Porto: Ernesto Chardron e Bartholomeu H. de Moraes, p. 3, 1019
13. ^ Instituto da Lingua Galega, Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (TLPGP), Santiago de Compostela: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, https://ilg.usc.gal/tesouro, p. s.v. imagem
14. ^ CLUL (ed.) (2014), P.S. Post Scriptum: Arquivo Digital de Escrita Quotidiana em Portugal e Espanha na Época Moderna, Lisboa: Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, http://ps.clul.ul.pt, p. s.v. imagem
15. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. imagem
16. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. imagem
17. ^ a b c Michaelis: Moderno Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, São Paulo: Melhoramentos (online as Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa, https://michaelis.uol.com.br), p. s.v. imagem
18. ^ Academia das Ciências de Lisboa, Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, revised online edition (2023–) of the Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa Contemporânea (2001), https://dicionario.acad-ciencias.pt, p. s.v. imagem
19. ^ a b Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 5083
20. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. imagem