Eidolon

[Dr. Goodword]

• eidolon •

Pronunciation: ai-do-lên • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Noun

Meaning: 1. A ghost, apparition, or phantom. 2. A mental vision of an ideal.

Notes: The adjective of today's word is eidolic, a distant cousin of eidetic, as eidetic memory "photographic memory". Both words deal with mental images that seem real. If you prefer plain talk, you may pluralize this word with an S: eidolons. If you are an eidoloclast (iconoclast) who enjoys the vagaries of the English irregular plurals, you may use the Greek plural, eidola.

In Play: Most of us enjoyed the company of eidolons with whom we chatted when no one else was around during our childhood: "My son seems to enjoy the company of mischievous eidolons who are constantly getting him into trouble." Though eidolons are phantomatic, our mental phantoms do serve purposes: "Americans are currently trying to match their eidolon of an effective president to the current candidates for that office."

Word History: Greek eidolon comes from the noun eidos "form, image" plus an old suffix -l and a noun ending. When Latin borrowed eidolon, it dropped the Greek ending and also the initial E, leaving idol, an image of an ideal. Now, Greek eidos came from the Proto-Indo-European root weid- "to see". This root also went directly into Latin and emerged as video "I see", with the first person present endings. The root of this word turns up in many words borrowed from Latin or whose makeup includes Latin components: vision, television, and visor are just three. The same root weid- also made its way into Germanic languages, where it became Old English wit "knowledge" (a meaning still present in witness) and German Wissen "knowledge". (We are happy that Sue Gold shares her wit and knowledge of words like today's with us, for such words are among the most delightful of our mental eidolons.)

[tkowal]

I guess Russian vidiet' (видеть) -- to see, similar to other Slavic languages, is also a derived from the same PIE root.

[wurdpurrson]

When I was about 7, my older brother was determined to have an eidetic memory. I asked my mother how to spell it, looked it up, and in the process of searching the dictionary found this wonderful word. I was quite taken with the sound of it and named my then imaginary friend Eidolon, replacing the more prosaic Mr. Catchsneeze. Together with Gladly, my Cross-Eyed Bear toy and my rabbit Toby the Escape Artist, we shared many adventures. Toby was much later named Epididymis by my mother because in his escapades he sired at least two litters that we were aware of, and possibly more that did not come to our attention.

[Perry Lassiter]

Wonder if there's a relationship to the Greek "idea." Plato's Ideas, also translated "forms" we to him the only reality. Consider all the different shapes of chairs. But still we grasp the Idea of chair. Plato thought the real world consisted of Ideas or Forms. The Idea of the Good was very similar to God.

[bamaboy56]

Hmmm...does it count if I still talk to myself from time to time? Not exactly an eidolon but that's the best I can do.

[LukeJavan8]

I'm renaming my inner child, Eidolon.

[wurdpurrson]

Most excellent idea! Go for it!