The meaning of the word "image" in Russian

It is not necessary to be a linguist to understand that the word "image" is borrowed from another language, and it came to Russian vocabulary not so long ago. What does it mean?

Lexma "image": the meaning and origin of the word

This word from English came into our language. Lexeme is polysemantic and has the following basic meanings: image, picture, image, representation, appearance, likeness, icon, reflection, abstract, idol, abbreviation. But it is interesting that in Russian this word migrated not with its main, but with a secondary meaning.

But if one digs deeper, then some etymologists believe that the meaning of the word "image" is rooted in Sanskrit. They explain this in the following way: in Indian mythology there is a god Brahma who never sees his face, but instead can contemplate in the mirror of Maya the representation of his creations. Hence, English words such as magic (magic), imagination (imagination), magnificent (brilliant, magnificent), imitate (repeat, imitate) and, of course, image. All these tokens have in common that they somehow point to the embodiment of something invisible in visual images. True, over time, the connection with Sanskrit became almost imperceptible, and all these words in English have a number of additional derived meanings.

Speaking specifically about the word image, at first it applied only to the common vocabulary, but since the 60s of the last century it has been used in the scientific, official, business and journalistic parts of the language. At that time, economic development was observed, which led to the creation of hundreds of new companies, financial organizations, etc. Therefore, it took a capacious word, capable of denoting the opinion of society about a particular firm, manager, employees or manufactured goods. Actually, that's how one of the values of the word image appeared. In the Russian language it migrated as the main one.

The meaning of the word "image"

Image is the external or social appearance of someone, something, the opinion that has developed about a person, an organization or a commodity. This amount of impressions is often created through advertising, PR, or propaganda. So, you can talk about the image of a diplomat, the image of a travel company and even the image of the state. A characteristic feature of the formation of the image is that the perspective of perception is intentionally displaced in the right direction, often showing only one side of the coin.

The narrower lexical meaning of the word "image" is the following: it is an image of a person, including appearance, manner of behavior, communication. This word has long been included in colloquial speech. For example, when someone changed his appearance, this is talked about as a change of image.

Not so long ago, even a special profession appeared - the image maker, that is, the creator of the image. Especially often, their services are enjoyed by show business stars and politicians. They know firsthand what the word image means and how important it is. Prepared professionals give them advice on the style of clothing and hairstyles, teach how to keep themselves at press conferences, how to gesticulate, what to say, and what not, etc.

Ways to form an image

This shape is formed in the minds of people. Image - this is necessarily a social phenomenon, it generalizes the opinion of the whole society or at least some part of it about someone, something. Representation of this can be created artificially in order to impose the necessary views. For example, before the elections a whole group of specialists is working on the image of the politician. Their task is to provide a "correct" picture for the electorate.

But not everything depends on the media. Sometimes a good or bad opinion is created regardless of the willingness of the interested persons. For example, unprofessional service, poor-quality uniforms or accidents will be negatively reflected on the image of even the most raspiarennoy airline.

Synonyms for "image"

Most often in this role are the nouns "image", "style", "reputation." The first two relate to appearance, therefore, most often in colloquial speech the aforementioned narrow lexical meaning of the word "image" is used. Of course, you can not merge these lexemes together. Less commonly used synonym is "reputation". It mainly affects the broad meaning of the word "image", not concerning external data. There are no Antonyms in the lexeme under discussion.

So, if you know not the approximate but exact meaning of the word "image", it will enrich the speech and make it more colorful and literate.