Wednesday, January 18, 2012

What is the Latin translation of fantasy?

Does any one know the latin translation of fantasy, or a translation of a similar word?

=)What is the Latin translation of fantasy?
Hmmmm. Phantasy comes from the greek, phantazein (蠁伪谓蟿伪味蔚喂谓) which means to "make visible." I would argue it's a concept that the Romans might not have had, at least not exactly the way we do.



Somnium can mean a dream, a vision, or a fantasy (sort of), though literally it means the sort of fantasy you have when you sleep. Somnus means sleep, after all.



They had the idea of a Daydream in Latin, which they called an 'Alucinatio' The phrase "Alucinatio mentis" meant to let your mind wander.



The Romans would, when they didn't have their own word for it, use the more creative Greek language to aid their writing. Thus they had the word Phantasiare, a verb that means to imagine, or to fancy. This loan word was really uncommon in Latin though.



If by fantasy, you mean a Hope, or a thing you wish to happen (Like, my greatest fantasy is to own an island) Then they definitely had this concept. They even had a Goddess for it, called Spes. and the noun is also, spes. (spei in the gen.)



Hope that helpsWhat is the Latin translation of fantasy?
Cassell's Latin Dictionary doesn't give a word for it, although it clearly appears to have come from Greek via Latin. In fact, that's what the American Heritage Dictionary tells us. The English word comes from Old French (fantasie), which comes from Late Latin (phantasia), which comes from a Greek word meaning appearance or imagination.

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