archetype ,
n :
An original model of which all other similar concepts, objects, or persons are merely copied, derivative, emulated, or patterned; a prototype. An ideal example of something; a quintessence. (literature) A character, object, or story that is based on a known character, object, or story. (psychology) According to Swiss psychologist Carl Jung: a universal pattern of thought, present in an individual's unconscious, inherited from the past collective experience of humanity. (textual criticism) A protograph (“original manuscript of a text from which all further copies derive”).
