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Origin and history of image

image(n.)

c. 1200, "piece of statuary; artificial representation that looks like a person or thing," from Old French image "image, likeness; figure, drawing, portrait; reflection; statue," earlier imagene (11c.), from Latin imaginem (nominative imago) "copy, imitation, likeness; statue, picture," also "phantom, ghost, apparition," figuratively "idea, appearance," from stem of imitari "to copy, imitate" (from PIE root *aim- "to copy").

The meaning "reflection in a mirror" is early 14c. The mental sense was in Latin, and appears in English late 14c. The sense of "public impression" is attested in isolated cases from 1908 but not in common use until its rise in the jargon of advertising and public relations, c. 1958.

To þe ymage of god he made hym [Genesis i.27, Wycliffite Bible, early version, 1382]

image(v.)

late 14c., "to form a mental picture (of something), imagine," from Old French imagier, from image (see image (n.)). Related: Imaged; imaging.

also from late 14c.

Entries linking to image

Emmy(n.)

statuette awarded by the American Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, 1949, said to be an alteration of Immy, from image.

imagery(n.)

mid-14c., "piece of sculpture, carved figures," from Old French imagerie "figure" (13c.), from image "likeness, figure, drawing, portrait" (see image (n.)). Rhetorical meaning "ornate description, exhibition of images to the mind" (in poetry, etc.) is from 1580s.

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Trends of image

adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

More to explore

imagism
name of a movement in poetry that sought clarity of expression through use of precise visual images, "hard light, clear edges" [Pound], coined 1912 by Ezra Pound; see image (n.) + -ism. Related: Imagist. —Say it, no ideas but in things— nothing but the blank faces of the house
range
c. 1200, renge, "row or line of persons" (especially hunters or soldiers), from Old French reng, renge "a row, line, rank," from Frankish *hring or some other Germanic source, from Proto-Germanic *hringaz "circle, ring, something curved" (from nasalized form of PIE root *sker- (2
effigy
"image of a person," 1530s, from French effigie (13c.), from Latin effigies "copy or imitation of something, likeness, image, statue," from or related to effingere "to mold, fashion, portray," from assimilated form of ex "out" (see ex-) + fingere "to form, shape" (from PIE root *
idol
mid-13c., "image of a deity as an object of (pagan) worship," from Old French idole "idol, graven image, pagan god" (11c....god, image of a pagan deity as an object of worship."...This is from Greek eidolon "mental image, apparition, phantom," also "material image, statue," in Ecclesiastical Greek,"...A Greek word for "image," used in Jewish and early Christian writers for "image of a false god," hence also "false god."...
imagine
mid-14c., "to form a mental image of," from Old French imaginer "sculpt, carve, paint; decorate, embellish" (13c.), from...Latin imaginari "to form a mental picture, picture to oneself, imagine" (also, in Late Latin imaginare "to form an image...of, represent"), from imago "an image, a likeness," from stem of imitari "to copy, imitate" (from PIE root *aim- "to copy...
simulacrum
1590s, "an image, that which is formed in likeness of an object," from Latin simulacrum "likeness, image, form, representation...Browne ("Urn-Burial") writes of "the ancient division of body soul and image or simulachrum of them both."...
imagination
imaginationem (nominative imaginatio) "imagination, a fancy," noun of action from past participle stem of imaginari "to form an image...of, represent"), from imago "an image, a likeness," from stem of imitari "to copy, imitate" (from PIE root *aim- "to copy...
panorama
1796, "a painting on a revolving cylindrical surface," representing scenes too extended to be beheld all at once, coined c. 1789 by inventor, Irish artist Robert Barker, literally "a complete view," from pan- "all" + Greek horama "sight, spectacle, that which is seen," from horan
model
1570s, "likeness made to scale; architect's set of designs," from French modelle (16c., Modern French modèle), from Italian modello "a model, mold," from Vulgar Latin *modellus, from Latin modulus "a small measure, standard," diminutive of modus "manner, measure" (from PIE root *
graphic
"vivid, describing accurately ," 1660s (graphically "vividly" is from 1570s), from Latin graphicus "picturesque," from Greek graphikos "of or for writing, belonging to drawing, picturesque," from graphe "writing, drawing," from graphein "to write" (see -graphy). Meaning "pertaini

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