imago Latin · revision 2746

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=inherited|attested=c. 250–184 BC, Plautus|origins=ine-pro *h₂eym-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (Classical): [ɪˈmaː.ɡoː]^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [iˈmaː.ɡo]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''imāgō''' ''f'' (genitive imāginis); third declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is formed from a stem *imā-, seen also in [[imitor|alt=imitārī]] “to copy”, with the suffix [[m|la|-āgō]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Gaffiot 2016) De Vaan derives both words from an Italic verb *imā-je/o- and reconstructs [[ine-pro|*h₂i-m-h₂-|t=image]], a root he finds poorly attested; if [[aemulus]] belongs to it, from *h₂eim-elo-, the underlying noun *imā- is confirmed, and [[hit|himma-|t=imitation, substitute]] may be cognate.^(de Vaan 2008) Wiktionary gives the root as [[ine-pro|*h₂eym-|t=to imitate]] and adds [[ang|efn|t=even, equal]].^(Wiktionary) Devoto's derivation from a root meaning “twin”, as in [[sa|यम|tr=yamá-|t=twin]], has no verbal cognates to support it.^(de Vaan 2008) Festus derived it from [[imitatio|alt=imitātiō]], and Porphyrio explained it as if it were [[m|la|imitago]].^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is found from Plautus onwards,^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010) who speaks of a man's likeness pressed in wax from his signet ring and of Jupiter taking on the [[m|en|likeness]] of Amphitruo.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It meant a representation in art, a picture, statue or especially a bust, and in particular the wax death masks of ancestors who had held office, kept in the atrium and carried in funeral processions, so that “a man of many ''imagines''” was a noble.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913) It also meant a reflection in a mirror or water, an [[m|en|echo]], and, in Epicurean philosophy, the film of images given off by objects.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ Beyond these it was a ghost or apparition, a mental picture, a description in words, a simile in rhetoric, a mere semblance (''imago rei publicae''), a copy or likeness, an illustrative example, a visible manifestation (the face as the ''imago'' of the mind), and visible form or shape (Virgil's “manifold image of death”).^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Medieval Latin used it for a seal, the type of a coin, a standard, an allegory, a prefiguration and, by metonymy, idolatry.^(Niermeyer 1976)^(Köbler 2010)^(MLW) It survives as French ''image'', Italian ''immagine'', Spanish ''imagen'' and Portuguese ''imagem'',^(Wiktionary) and English [[m|en|image]] came through Old French about 1200, while ''imago'' itself was borrowed in 1797 for the adult form of an insect.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a seal impression and of a likeness.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of an echo.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of a mirror image.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of ancestral masks, Epicurean images, ghosts and similes.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of a ghost and of the image of death.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 831–833 – Paschasius Radbertus has a medieval sense.^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 1200 – [[en|image|alt=Image]] is borrowed into English.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1797 – [[en|imago|alt=Imago]] is borrowed into English for the adult insect.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A representation in art, a picture, a statue, a bust.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # The death mask of an ancestor who held office, and in the plural noble ancestry.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # A reflection in a mirror; an [[m|en|echo]].^(OLD 2012)

+ # ''(Epicurean philosophy)'' An image given off by an object.^(OLD 2012)

+ # A ghost, an apparition; a hallucination.^(OLD 2012)

+ # A mental picture, a description in words, or in rhetoric a simile.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # A semblance, a show; a copy, a [[m|en|likeness]].^(OLD 2012)

+ # An illustrative example; a visible manifestation.^(OLD 2012)

+ # Visible form, appearance; a shape, a kind.^(OLD 2012)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' A seal; the type of a coin; a standard; an allegory; idolatry.^(Niermeyer 1976)^(Köbler 2010)^(MLW)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[imaginalis]]

+ * [[imāginārius]]

+ * [[imagineus]]

+ * [[imāginifer]]

+ * [[imāginōsus]]

+ * [[imāguncula]]

+ * [[imāginābilis]]

+ * [[imāginō]]

+ * [[imāginor]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[aemulus]]

+ * [[imitor]]

+ * [[en|image]]

+ * [[en|imagine]]

+ * [[en|imago]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Döderlein notes that ''imago'' is a representation allied to its original by a striking likeness, [[simulacrum|alt=simulācrum]] a deceptive imitation, while [[statua]], [[signum]] and [[effigies|alt=effigiēs]] are only plastic works.^(Döderlein 1874)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}