eidolon
/ʌɪˈdəʊlɒn
/noun (plural eidolons or eidola /ʌɪˈdəʊlə/) literary
1An idealized person or thing.The subjectification of the beloved in Petrarchan lyric entails the internalization of a feminine image, an eidolon rather than an objectively real presence.
2A spectre or phantom.Plotinus, however, described the body itself as an eidolon - a simulacrum or phantom - of the soul: for him, the physical body was less real than the soul, and the soul in turn less real than divine Being....
- This was a false assumption; Jone was well-versed in the holy scriptures, and it was whispered that he had the ability to conjure up eidolons and spirits.
- The ancients called these human shadows, shades; modern children and nursemaids call them ghosts and spooks; and each such shade is but an eidolon.
Origin
Early 19th century: from Greek eidōlon, from eidos 'form'.