imaginatio Latin · revision 7945

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=Pliny the Elder|origins=la imāgō}}

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''imāginātiō''' ''f'' (genitive imāginātiōnis); third declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is from [[imāginor]] “to picture”, from [[imāgō]] “image”, with the suffix [[-tiō]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The OLD's and Lewis and Short's earliest citation is from Pliny the Elder, of fancies in sleep.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Köbler dates Pliny 23/24–79 AD.^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It meant picturing in the mind, fantasy, imagining, a mental image, as in Pliny the Elder and Tacitus' Nero dreaming of Egypt.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Gaffiot 2016) Lewis and Short call it post-Augustan.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant imagination, a mental image.^(Stelten 1995) Medieval Latin used it for an image, a statue, a reflection in a mirror, and the setting of a seal.^(Niermeyer 1976) British Medieval Latin distinguished imagination from reason.^(DMLBS) It was borrowed into French ''imagination'' and Italian ''immaginazione'', and Old French gave [[en|imagination]] in the mid-14th century.^(Wiktionary)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of fancies in sleep.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses it of Nero's imaginings.^(Gaffiot 2016)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * mid-14th century – English ''imagination'' is recorded.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|Imagination]], fantasy; a mental image.^(OLD 2012)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' An image, statue; a reflection.^(Niermeyer 1976)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[imāgō]]

+ * [[imāginor]]

+ * [[en|imagination]]

+ * [[en|imagine]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}