fantasia

See also: Fantasia and fantasía

English

WOTD – 13 November 2020

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian fantasia (“imagination, fancy, fantasy; musical composition with improvisational characteristics”), from Latin phantasia (“fancy, fantasy; imagination”), borrowed from Ancient Greek φᾰντᾰσῐ́ᾱ (phantasíā, “appearance, look; display, presentation; pageantry, pomp; impression, perception; image”), from φᾰ́ντᾰσῐς (phántasis) + -ῐ́ᾱ (-íā, suffix forming feminine abstract nouns). Φᾰ́ντᾰσῐς (Phántasis) is derived from φᾰντᾰ́ζω (phantázō, “to make visible, show; to become visible, appear; to imagine”), from φαίνω (phaínō, “to appear; to reveal; to shine”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂- (“to shine”). The English word is a doublet of fancy, fantasy, phantasia, and phantasy.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /fænˈteɪ.zɪ.ə/, /-ˈtɑː-/, /fænˈteɪ.ʒə/, /ˌfæn.təˈziː.ə/

• Audio (RP)

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /fænˈteɪ.zi.ə/, /fænˈteɪ.ʒə/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: fan‧ta‧sia

Noun

fantasia (plural fantasias)

1. (music, also figurative) A form of instrumental composition with a free structure and improvisational characteristics; specifically, one combining a number of well-known musical pieces. [from early 18th c.]
   • 1821, “[...] Fantasia, for the Piano Forte, on Di Tanti Palpiti, by Pio Cianchettini. London. Mitchell. [review]”, in The Quarterly Musical Magazine and Review, volume III, number X, London: […] Baldwin, Cradock, and Joy, […], →OCLC, page 252:

     The Fantasia, by Mr. [Pio] Cianchettini, is upon [Gioachino] Rossini's air "Tu che accendi," so often made the theme of piano forte lessons. [...] Mr. Cianchettini's imagination is very vivid and full, and we know of nothing more florid or requiring lighter and more delicate touching than this Fantasia.

   • 1841, Eleanor Margaret Geary, “[Addenda.] Reviews Consequent upon a Grand Morning Concert Given by Miss Geary and Miss Elizabeth Geary, at Willis’s Great Concert Room, King Street, St. James’s, June 21st, 1841, [...]”, in Musical Education; with Practical Observations on the Art of Piano-forte Playing, London: D’Almaine and Co., […], →OCLC, page 44:

     Miss [Eleanor Margaret] Geary is a brilliant pianiste, who make light of the modern difficulties set down for the instrument: her performance of [Theodor] Döhler's Anna Bolena fantasia was achieved without apparent effort, and won considerable applause; [...] Miss E[lizabeth] Geary is a vocalist, possessing a sweet and flexible voice, [...] this young lady also played a fantasia on the concertina very adroitly.

   • 1853 July, Thomas Buchanan Read, “Pilgrims of the Great St. Bernard”, in George R[ex] Graham, editor, Graham’s Magazine, volume XLIII, number 1, Philadelphia, Pa.: [Watson & Co. […]?], →OCLC, chapter VIII, page 105:

     The little Italian party, before alluded to, had collected around the piano. The white and plump fingers of the gay and black-eyed daughter of the Roman marchioness were tripping lightly up and down the octaves of the instrument, and her little tastefully arranged head was merrily dancing from side to side, keeping time to the half-improvised phantasia, which trickled like a wayward stream from her hands.

   • 1857, Hugh James Rose, “AURENHAMMER,^{[sic – meaning AUERNHAMMER]} (Josepha)”, in A New General Biographical Dictionary, […], volume II, London: T. Fellowes, […], →OCLC, pages 368–369:

     She [Josepha Barbara Auernhammer] published subsequently many works of her own, (in all 63,) which, as well as her play, especially the extempore phantasias, were distinguished by much delicate feeling and a vivid imagination.

   • 1982, Richard Charteris, “Preface”, in John Coprario, edited by Richard Charteris, Twelve Fantasias for Two Bass Viols and Organ, and Eleven Pieces for Three Lyra Viols (Recent Researches in the Music of the Baroque Era; XLI), Madison, Wis.: A-R Editions, →ISBN, →ISSN , page vii, column 1:

     Among English composers working during the first half of the seventeenth century, John Coprario distinguished himself as a first-rate craftsman and as the innovator of the three-movement fantasia-suite. [...] These pieces should be viewed in the context of his total output of eight two-part fantasias; ten three-part fantasias; seven four-part fantasias; [...]

   • 1987, “Publisher’s Note”, in Georg Philipp Telemann, edited by Max Seiffert, The 36 Fantasias for Keyboard, New York, N.Y.: Dover Publications, →ISBN:

     Representative as they are of [Georg Philipp] Telemann's introduction to Germany of the lighter and less contrpuntal galant style from France, these fantasias are also obvious precursors of the Classical sonata form.

   • 2001, Annette Richards, “C. P. E. Bach and the Landscapes of Genius”, in The Free Fantasia and the Musical Picturesque (New Perspectives in Music History and Criticism), Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, New York, N.Y.: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 34:

     In 1783 C[arl] P[hilipp] E[manuel] Bach's fourth collection of keyboard music for Kenner und Liebhaber was published by Brietkopf in Leipzig. [...] For the first time in the Kenner und Liebhaber series, this volume contained two free fantasias in addition to sonatas and rondos, a novelty that not only caught the attention of the critics, but seems to have been considered by Bach as a particular selling point for the volume: [...]

2. (chiefly art, by extension) Any work which is unstructured or comprises other works of different genres or styles.
   • 1872 October 19, “The Cutting of the Nile: From The Pall Mall Gazette”, in Littel’s Living Age, volume XXVII (Fourth Series; volume CXV overall), number 1480, Boston, Mass.: Littel & Gay, →OCLC, page 189, column 2:

     It is, however, a ceremony of immense antiquity, and the chief civil festival of the year among the Arabs, who love nothing more dearly than a "phantasia" of this sort.

   • 1899, I[srael] Zangwill, “The Keeper of Conscience”, in “They that Walk in Darkness”: Ghetto Tragedies, Philadelphia, Pa.: The Jewish Publication Society of America, →OCLC, section VII, page 289:

     When, at the head-centre, the lady demonstrator, armed with a Brobdingnagian whalebone needle, threaded with a bright red cord, executed herringboned fantasias on a canvas frame resembling a violin stand, it all looked easy enough.

   • [1921], H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, “Preface”, in The War in the Air (Collins’ Thin Paper Pocket Edition; 20), London, Glasgow: Collins Clear-Type Press, →OCLC; quoted in Charles E. Gannon, “Promoters of the Probable, Prophets of the Possible: Technological Innovation and Edwardian Near-future War Fiction”, in Rumors of War and Infernal Machines: Technomilitary Agenda-setting in American and British Speculative Fiction, Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2003, →ISBN, page 82:

     Consequently 'War in the Air' means social destruction instead of victory as the end of war. It not only alters the methods of war but the consequences of war. After all that has happened since this fantasia of possibility was written, I do not think that there is much wrong with this thesis.

   • 1966, Brian W[esterdale] Downs, “Ibsen before 1884”, in Modern Norwegian Literature 1860–1918, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: University Press, published 2010, →ISBN, page 44:

     [The Warrior's Barrow (Kjæmpehøjen)] admirably conformed to his employers' National-Romantic aims. This is equally true of the four new plays with which [Henrik] Ibsen honoured his contract: St. John's Night) (Sancthansnatten, 1853), a phantasia having a good deal in common with [William] Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream [...]

   • 1987, Nina Auerbach, “Our Lady of the Lyceum”, in Joan DeJean, Carroll Smith-Rosenberg, Peter Stallybrass, Gary Tomlinson, editors, Ellen Terry, Player in Her Time (New Cultural Studies), Philadelphia, Pa.: University of Pennsylvania Press, published 1997, →ISBN, page 209:

     These are the years in which she [Ellen Terry] begins to sign her letters in a phantasia of different names.

   • 2003, Ann K. Schwader, “Body of Work”, in Kevin L. O’Brien, editor, Strange Stars & Alien Shadows: The Dark Fiction of Ann K. Schwader, Aurora, Colo.: Lindisfarne Press, →ISBN, page 39:

     Her art is always with her, clothing her from throat to toes in an indelible fantasia of color and form and myth.

   • 2012, Zoe Fishman, chapter 2, in Saving Ruth, New York, N.Y.: William Morrow, →ISBN:

     David and my parents looked up from passing bowls of potato and chicken salad. Great, a mayonnaise fantasia.

   • 2018 December 12, Charles Bramesco, “A Spoonful of Nostalgia Helps the Calculated Mary Poppins Returns Go Down”, in The A.V. Club‎^[1], archived from the original on 24 May 2019:

     [T]he zippy musical numbers in which Mary Poppins (a stiff-lipped Emily Blunt) whisks cherubs Annabel, John, and Georgie (Pixie Davies, Nathanael Saleh, and Joel Dawson, respectively) away into colorful hyperreal fantasias impress.

3. A traditional festival of the inhabitants of the Maghreb (in northwest Africa) featuring exhibitions of horsemanship.
   • 1868, Mrs. H. Lloyd Evans, “Across the Atlas”, in Last Winter in Algeria, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, page 100:

     As for the wonderful feats of horsemanship one hears of or sees among the Arabs, they are due to sharp spurs like razors, and to bits strong enough to break an animal's jaw. [...] Their favourite feat at their fantasias or fêtes of suddenly pulling up their horses short while at hand-gallop, ruins their legs, and there is in consequence scarcely a horse to be seen whose hind-legs are not spavined.

   • 1875 February, “Biskra, in French Algeria, on the Verge of Sahara”, in Frank Leslie’s Pleasant Hours. Devoted to Light and Entertaining Literature, volume XVIII, number I, New York, N.Y.: Frank Leslie […], →OCLC, page 218, column 2:

     These fantasias consist of sham fights, the men riding at full gallop at one another, and firing as they pass; the play might have ended more seriously than was intended, for one Spahi had unknowingly a ball in his rifle, which whizzed close to his enemy's head, but the man never winced, or took any more notice than if it had been blank cartridge, and the fantasia continued as before.

   • 1976, Elizabeth Warnock Fernea, “The Feast of Accession to the Sultan’s Throne”, in A Street in Marrakech: A Personal View of Urban Women in Morocco, Long Grove, Ill.: Waveland Press, published 1988, →ISBN, part II, page 223:

     Everyone was enjoying himself. Political differences seemed to be forgotten. The King was smarter than anyone realized. Bang! Bang! Bang! The fantasias went on and on, the Berber warriors in white, standing up in their silver stirrups on bay, gray, black, and chestnut stallions, firing their silver-chased rifles in perfect unison into the air. [...] The men cheered and the women ululated as each successful fantasia run was completed.

   • 1990 April 30, “Sisley: Relaxed Elegance [advertisement]”, in Edward Kosner, editor, New York, volume 23, number 17, New York, N.Y.: News America Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 199:

     Mimi was keen to ride a berber horse and Said arranged a Fantasia especially for us – or was it for her? – with the best riders around Marrakech.

   • 2009 October, Laurent Roustan, “The Horse, Present since the Dawn of Time”, in Alphatrad Internationale, transl., Au Royaume du Cheval: Les Haras Nationaux du Maroc [In the Kingdom of the Horse: The National Studs of Morocco], Souyri, Aveyron, France: Editions Au fil du Temps, →ISBN:

     However, in the last few years, the stud farms in Morocco and elsewhere in the world have rediscovered the qualities of the barb [Barbary horse], which, in Berber tradition, remains the king of the "fantasias", a festival that is also becoming fashionable once again.

Alternative forms

• phantasia (dated)

Translations

form of instrumental composition with a free structure and improvisational characteristics

• Armenian: ֆանտազիա (hy) (fantazia)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 暢想曲／畅想曲 (chàngxiǎngqǔ), 幻想曲 (zh) (huànxiǎngqǔ)

• Danish: fantasi c
• Esperanto: fantazio (eo)
• Estonian: fantaasia
• Finnish: fantasia (fi)
• French: fantaisie (fr) f
• Georgian: ფანტაზია (panṭazia)
• German: Fantasia f, Fantaisie f, Fantasie (de) f
• Greek: φαντασία (el) f (fantasía)
• Hungarian: fantázia (hu)
• Italian: fantasia (it) f
• Norwegian: fantasi (no) m
• Polish: fantazja (pl) f
• Russian: фанта́зия (ru) f (fantázija)
• Serbo-Croatian: fantazija (sh) f
• Slovak: fantázia f
• Ukrainian: фантазія f (fantazija)
• Uzbek: fantaziya (uz)
• Vietnamese: phăng-tê-di (vi), phăng-te-di (vi), phăng (vi)

work which is unstructured or comprises other works of different genres or styles

• Serbo-Croatian: fantazija (sh) f
• Vietnamese: phăng-tê-di (vi), phăng-te-di (vi), phăng (vi)

traditional festival of the inhabitants of the Maghreb

• Arabic: فَانْتَازِيَا f (fāntāziyā), خِيَالَة f (ḵiyāla)

  Moroccan Arabic: تبوريدة f (tbūrīda), خيالة f (ḵyāla)

• Serbo-Croatian: fantazija (sh) f

Further reading

• fantasia (music) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• fantasia (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Catalan

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Latin phantasia, from Ancient Greek φαντασία (phantasía).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [fən.təˈzi.ə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencian) [fan.taˈzi.a]

Noun

fantasia f (plural fantasies)

1. fantasy

Related terms

• fantasiar
• fantàstic

Further reading

• “fantasia” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “fantasia”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
• “fantasia” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “fantasia” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Etymology 2

Verb

fantasia

1. inflection of fantasiar:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

Finnish

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin fantasia, phantasia.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfɑntɑsiɑ/, [ˈfɑ̝n̪t̪ɑ̝ˌs̠iɑ̝]
• Rhymes: -iɑ
• Syllabification^(key): fan‧ta‧si‧a

Noun

fantasia

1. fantasy

Declension

Inflection of fantasia (Kotus type 12/kulkija, no gradation)
nominative		fantasia	fantasiat
genitive		fantasian	fantasioiden fantasioitten
partitive		fantasiaa	fantasioita
illative		fantasiaan	fantasioihin
		singular	plural
nominative		fantasia	fantasiat
accusative	nom.	fantasia	fantasiat
	gen.	fantasian
genitive		fantasian	fantasioiden fantasioitten fantasiainrare
partitive		fantasiaa	fantasioita
inessive		fantasiassa	fantasioissa
elative		fantasiasta	fantasioista
illative		fantasiaan	fantasioihin
adessive		fantasialla	fantasioilla
ablative		fantasialta	fantasioilta
allative		fantasialle	fantasioille
essive		fantasiana	fantasioina
translative		fantasiaksi	fantasioiksi
abessive		fantasiatta	fantasioitta
instructive		—	fantasioin
comitative		See the possessive forms below.

Possessive forms of fantasia (Kotus type 12/kulkija, no gradation)

first-person singular possessor singular plural nominative fantasiani fantasiani accusative nom. fantasiani fantasiani gen. fantasiani genitive fantasiani fantasioideni fantasioitteni fantasiainirare partitive fantasiaani fantasioitani inessive fantasiassani fantasioissani elative fantasiastani fantasioistani illative fantasiaani fantasioihini adessive fantasiallani fantasioillani ablative fantasialtani fantasioiltani allative fantasialleni fantasioilleni essive fantasianani fantasioinani translative fantasiakseni fantasioikseni abessive fantasiattani fantasioittani instructive — — comitative — fantasioineni second-person singular possessor singular plural nominative fantasiasi fantasiasi accusative nom. fantasiasi fantasiasi gen. fantasiasi genitive fantasiasi fantasioidesi fantasioittesi fantasiaisirare partitive fantasiaasi fantasioitasi inessive fantasiassasi fantasioissasi elative fantasiastasi fantasioistasi illative fantasiaasi fantasioihisi adessive fantasiallasi fantasioillasi ablative fantasialtasi fantasioiltasi allative fantasiallesi fantasioillesi essive fantasianasi fantasioinasi translative fantasiaksesi fantasioiksesi abessive fantasiattasi fantasioittasi instructive — — comitative — fantasioinesi first-person plural possessor singular plural nominative fantasiamme fantasiamme accusative nom. fantasiamme fantasiamme gen. fantasiamme genitive fantasiamme fantasioidemme fantasioittemme fantasiaimmerare partitive fantasiaamme fantasioitamme inessive fantasiassamme fantasioissamme elative fantasiastamme fantasioistamme illative fantasiaamme fantasioihimme adessive fantasiallamme fantasioillamme ablative fantasialtamme fantasioiltamme allative fantasiallemme fantasioillemme essive fantasianamme fantasioinamme translative fantasiaksemme fantasioiksemme abessive fantasiattamme fantasioittamme instructive — — comitative — fantasioinemme second-person plural possessor singular plural nominative fantasianne fantasianne accusative nom. fantasianne fantasianne gen. fantasianne genitive fantasianne fantasioidenne fantasioittenne fantasiainnerare partitive fantasiaanne fantasioitanne inessive fantasiassanne fantasioissanne elative fantasiastanne fantasioistanne illative fantasiaanne fantasioihinne adessive fantasiallanne fantasioillanne ablative fantasialtanne fantasioiltanne allative fantasiallenne fantasioillenne essive fantasiananne fantasioinanne translative fantasiaksenne fantasioiksenne abessive fantasiattanne fantasioittanne instructive — — comitative — fantasioinenne third-person possessor singular plural nominative fantasiansa fantasiansa accusative nom. fantasiansa fantasiansa gen. fantasiansa genitive fantasiansa fantasioidensa fantasioittensa fantasiainsarare partitive fantasiaansa fantasioitaan fantasioitansa inessive fantasiassaan fantasiassansa fantasioissaan fantasioissansa elative fantasiastaan fantasiastansa fantasioistaan fantasioistansa illative fantasiaansa fantasioihinsa adessive fantasiallaan fantasiallansa fantasioillaan fantasioillansa ablative fantasialtaan fantasialtansa fantasioiltaan fantasioiltansa allative fantasialleen fantasiallensa fantasioilleen fantasioillensa essive fantasianaan fantasianansa fantasioinaan fantasioinansa translative fantasiakseen fantasiaksensa fantasioikseen fantasioiksensa abessive fantasiattaan fantasiattansa fantasioittaan fantasioittansa instructive — — comitative — fantasioineen fantasioinensa

Derived terms

• fantasioida

 

compounds

• fantasiaelokuva
• fantasiakirjallisuus
• fantasiamaailma
• fantasiapeli
• fantasiaromaani
• fantasiaroolipeli
• fantasiataiteilija
• fantasiataru
• seksuaalifantasia
• sukupuolifantasia
• voimafantasia

 

Further reading

• “fantasia”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎^[2] (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 2023-07-02

French

Noun

fantasia f (plural fantasias)

1. fantasia (African festival)

Further reading

• “fantasia”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Italian

Etymology

From Latin phantasia, from Ancient Greek φαντασία (phantasía).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fan.taˈzi.a/
• Rhymes: -ia
• Hyphenation: fan‧ta‧sì‧a

Noun

fantasia f (plural fantasie)

1. imagination, fantasy, whim, fancy
2. pattern
3. (music) fantasia

Related terms

• fantascienza
• fantasioso
• fantasista
• fantastico

Descendants

• → English: fantasia
• → German: Fantasia
• → Greek: φαντασία (fantasía)

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /fanˈta.si.a/, [fän̪ˈt̪äs̠iä]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /fanˈta.si.a/, [fän̪ˈt̪äːs̬iä]

Noun

fantasia f (genitive fantasiae); first declension

1. Alternative form of phantasia

Declension

First-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	fantasia	fantasiae
Genitive	fantasiae	fantasiārum
Dative	fantasiae	fantasiīs
Accusative	fantasiam	fantasiās
Ablative	fantasiā	fantasiīs
Vocative	fantasia	fantasiae

References

• fantasia in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• fantasia in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• fantasia in Ramminger, Johann (2016 July 16 (last accessed)) Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700‎^[3], pre-publication website, 2005-2016

Portuguese

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Latin phantasia, from Ancient Greek φαντασία (phantasía).

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /fɐ̃.taˈzi.ɐ/

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /fɐ̃.taˈzi.ɐ/
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /fɐ̃.taˈzi.a/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /fɐ̃.tɐˈzi.ɐ/

• Hyphenation: fan‧ta‧si‧a

Noun

fantasia f (plural fantasias)

1. fantasy (imagining)
2. (literature) fantasy (literary genre)
3. costume (outfit or a disguise worn as fancy dress)

Related terms

• fantástico

Further reading

• “fantasia” in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa.

Etymology 2

Verb

fantasia

1. inflection of fantasiar:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fanˈtasja/ [fãn̪ˈt̪a.sja]
• Rhymes: -asja
• Syllabification: fan‧ta‧sia

Verb

fantasia

1. inflection of fantasiar:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

Swahili

Etymology

Borrowed from English fantasy.

Pronunciation

• Audio (Kenya)

  (file)

Noun

fantasia (n class, plural fantasia)

1. fantasy (literary genre)