fantasma Italian · revision 38319

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1271–1275, Fiori di filosafi (Florence)|origins=grc φαντάζω}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /fanˈtaz.ma/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''fantasma''' ''m'' (plural fantasmi)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old forms include [[roa-oit|fantasmo]] and [[roa-oit|phantasma]], with the old plural [[roa-oit|fantasmate]].^(TLIO)^(GDLI) The popular form [[fantasima]] is also recorded.^(GDLI)^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is a learned word, [[bor|la|phantasma|t=ghost, apparition]], from [[grc|φάντασμα|tr=phántasma|t=apparition, vision; ghost]], a derivative of [[m|grc|φαντάζω|tr=phantázō|t=to make visible, (middle) to appear]].^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(GDLI) The Greek verb is the source of [[fantasia]] too.^(Nocentini 2010)^(GDLI) The word was used as a feminine in early texts because of its ending in ⟨-a⟩, while the masculine continues the Greek and Latin neuter.^(DELI 1999)^(GDLI)

+

+ Spoken Latin altered the word into forms like [[m|la-vul|*fantauma]], the source of [[fr|fantôme]] and [[pro|fantauma]], and [[m|la-vul|*pantasima]], which survives in [[sc|pantasima]] and in southern Italy.^(Nocentini 2010)^(DEI|1595)^(REW 1935) Nocentini explains the first by a Greek variant [[m|grc|φάνταγμα|tr=phántagma]].^(Nocentini 2010) [[es|fantasma]] and [[pt|fantasma]] are learned like the Italian word.^(REW 1935)^(Nocentini 2010)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The TLIO's earliest record is the Florentine ''Fiori e vita di filosafi'' (1271–1275), with the sense “incorporeal being, apparition”.^(TLIO) DELI's first date for the feminine is Guittone d'Arezzo, before 1294, for the image of a dead person seen by a troubled mind, a ghost.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In Old Italian the word also meant an empty image created by the mind, also in dreams, and a hideous apparition;^(TLIO)^(Prati 1951|422) Francesco da Barberino and others used it for a nightmare.^(TLIO)^(Prati 1951|422) In Aristotelian and Thomist philosophy the ''fantasma'' was the image of a thing perceived by the senses, a meaning still used in the 19th century by Rosmini.^(GDLI)^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861)

+

+ The sense “illusion, image with no basis in reality” is dated before 1498 in Savonarola, who also used the masculine.^(DELI 1999) In the 20th century the word came to be used after a noun as an invariable adjective, “nonexistent, only apparent”: ''città fantasma'' translates the English ''ghost town'' and ''scrittore fantasma'' ''ghost writer''.^(Treccani 2011)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010) ''Fantasmagoria'' “magic-lantern show” (1801) is French ''fantasmagorie'', a name coined in 1798 from the same Greek word.^(DELI 1999) English borrowed ''phantasma'' in 1598.^(DIFIT)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1271–1275 – The ''Fiori di filosafi'' have the word.^(TLIO)

+ * Before 1294 – Guittone d'Arezzo uses it as a feminine for a ghost.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1498 – Savonarola uses it for an illusion, and as a masculine.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1598 – English ''phantasma'' is recorded.^(DIFIT)

+ * 1801 – ''Fantasmagoria'' is recorded.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|ghost]], [[m|en|spectre]]: the supposed apparition of a dead person: ''Dicono che nella villa abbandonata si aggiri un fantasma.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # An [[m|en|illusion]], a creation of the imagination with no reality: ''Insegue da anni il fantasma della ricchezza.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # A haunting thought or memory, something from the past that comes back to trouble one: ''i fantasmi della guerra''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)

+ # ''(psychoanalysis)'' A fantasy, an imagined scene in which a conscious or unconscious wish is fulfilled.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # ''(philosophy)'' In Aristotelian psychology, the mental image of something perceived by the senses.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)

+ # ''(invariable, after a noun)'' Nonexistent, only apparent, or unofficial: ''città fantasma'', ''governo fantasma''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[fantasmagoria]]

+ * [[fantasmagorico]]

+ * [[fantasmatico]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[fantasia]]

+ * [[fantasima]]

+ * [[fr|fantôme]]

+ * [[la|phantasma]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Essere il fantasma di sé stesso'' is said of someone so worn out as to be hardly recognisable.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Treccani 2011)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}