One does not have 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?
The token "image": the meaning and origin of the word
This word from English fell into our language. The token image is polysemantic and has the following basic meanings: image, picture, image, representation, appearance, likeness, icon, reflection, abstract, idol, reduction. But it is interesting that in Russian this word did not migrate with its main, but with a secondary meaning.
But if you dig deeper, some etymologists believe that the meaning of the word "image" goes back to Sanskrit. They explain it this way: in Indian mythology there is the god Brahma, who never sees his appearance, but instead can contemplate in the mirror of Maya the reflection of his creations. This is where the words of the English language come from, such as magic, imagination, magnificent (brilliant, magnificent), imitate (repeat, imitate) and, of course, image. All these tokens have in common that they somehow indicate the embodiment of something invisible in visual images. True, over time, the connection with Sanskrit has become almost imperceptible, and all these words in the English language have a number of additional derivative meanings.
Speaking specifically about the word image, at first it applied only to common vocabulary, but since the 60s of the last century it began to be used in the scientific, official-business and journalistic parts of the language. At that time, economic development was observed, which entailed the creation of hundreds of new companies, financial organizations, etc. Therefore, a capacious word was needed that could indicate the opinion of society about a particular company, manager, employees or manufactured goods. Actually, one of the meanings of the word image appeared. In Russian, however, it migrated as the main one.
Meaning of the word "image"
Image is the external or social appearance of someone, something, an opinion that has developed about a person, organization or product. This amount of impressions is often created through advertising, public relations or propaganda. So, we 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 image formation is that the angle of perception is deliberately shifted to the right track, 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 their appearance, they talk about it as a change in image.
Not so long ago, a special profession even appeared - an image maker, that is, an image creator. Especially often stars of show business and politics use their services. They know firsthand what the word image means and how important it is. Trained professionals give them advice on the style of clothes and hairstyles, teach them how to behave at press conferences, how to gesticulate, what to say and what not, etc.
Ways of image formation
This appearance is taking shape in the minds of people. Image is necessarily a social phenomenon, it generalizes the opinion of the whole society, or at least some part of it, about someone, something. This representation can be created artificially in order to impose the necessary views. For example, before the election, a whole group of specialists is working on the image of a politician. Their task is to provide the “right” picture for the electorate.
But not everything depends on the media. Sometimes a good or bad opinion is created regardless of the desire of interested parties. For example, unprofessional service, poor-quality uniforms or accidents will adversely affect the image of even the most hyped airline.
