English
imagination
Imagination comes from Latin imāginātiō ‘mental image, fancy, imagination’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *h₂eym- ‘to imitate’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂eym-‘to imitate’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEimāgō‘image’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEimāginor‘to imagine, conceive’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEimāginātiō‘mental image, fancy, imagination’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400imaginacion
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500ymaginacioun‘the ability to create mental images’
- Englishearliest quotation 1603imagination
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂eym-‘to imitate’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEimāgō‘image’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEimāginor‘to imagine, conceive’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEimāginātiō‘mental image, fancy, imagination’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400imaginacion
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500ymaginacioun‘the ability to create mental images’
- Englishearliest quotation 1603imagination
Earliest quotation: 1603, Michel de Montaigne, The Essayes […]: “It is a pleasant imagination to conceive a spirit…”
Formed from imagine + -ation
Latin imāgō ‘a copy, likeness’
Latin imāginor ‘to imagine’
Middle French imaginer
Middle English ymagynen ‘to imagine’
English imagine
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *h₂eym- ‘to imitate’
emulate, imitate, imitation, emulation, imitator, 8 more
through Latin imāgō ‘image’
Today it means
noun The image-making power of the mind; the act of mentally creating or reproducing an object not previously perceived; the ability to create such images.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *h₂eym- / imagination