imagery English · revision 39409

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1350, Psalter|origins=la imāgō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ˈɪmɪd͡ʒɹi/, /ˈɪmɪd͡ʒəɹi/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|imagerie]],^(Klein 1966)^(Dictionary.com 2016) [[bor|xno|imagerie]] (also [[m|xno|ymagerye]]), work representing objects, recorded in Anglo-Norman from the late 12th century,^(OED 2026)^(AND) formed from [[m|fro|image|t=likeness, figure]] and the suffix [[m|fro|-erie]].^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline) The ODE derives it instead from [[m|fro|imager|t=to make an image]], and Klein from [[m|fro|imagier|t=painter]].^(ODE 2010)^(Klein 1966) The base noun goes back to [[la|imāgō|t=copy, likeness]].^(Etymonline)^(AHD 2024)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Carved or painted work representing objects; statues and carvings collectively: c. 1350, in a Middle English psalter.^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In Middle English it also meant figured work on a fabric, embroidery (from Gower, before 1393, to 1777), and among the Lollards (1395) the use of images in worship, which their critics called idolatry.^(OED 2026) The art of making images is recorded from c. 1425.^(OED 2026) The rhetorical sense, the use of figures of speech and vivid description, arose in the 1580s,^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline) and the mental sense, images formed in the mind, in 1595; it is now chiefly a term of psychology.^(OED 2026) Johnson (1755) still put "pictures; statues" first.^(Johnson 1755) In the 20th century the word was applied to pictures produced from invisible radiation, by radar, ultrasound or X-rays (1935), and to visual symbolism in film and art (1962).^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1350 – carved or painted figures.^(OED 2026)

+ * a1393 – figured work on textiles (obsolete).^(OED 2026)

+ * 1395 – the worship of images (obsolete).^(OED 2026)

+ * 1583 – figurative language.^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline)

+ * 1595 – mental images.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1646 – scenery.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1935 – images made from radiation.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1962 – visual symbolism in film.^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[figurative|alt=Figurative]] or descriptive language, especially in a literary work: ''The poem's imagery is drawn from the sea.''^(COED 2004)^(Collins 2023)

+ # Visual [[symbolism]] in art or film.^(COED 2004)^(OED 2026)

+ # Images collectively, especially pictures produced by cameras, [[satellite|alt=satellites]] or scanners.^(Collins 2023)^(OED 2026)

+ # ''(psychology)'' Mental images, or the kind of mental images a person forms.^(Collins 2023)^(OED 2026)

+ # Statues, carvings and other made images collectively.^(MWU 2024)^(SOED 2002)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[imagerially]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[image]]

+ * [[imagine]]

+ * [[imitate]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}