The French term protéidolie is indebted to the Greek words protos (first) and eidos (image, appearance, idea). It was introduced in or shortly before 1973 by the French psychiatrist Henri Ey (1900-1977) to denote a variant of *hallucinotic eidolia (i.e. a hallucination occurring in the absence of disease) characterized by simple, yet intensely vivid images. As Ey maintains, "Pro-téidolies [are] a variety of hallucinotic eidolias characterized by a very vivid and elementary form ...and without a scenic interconnection". Ey uses the term protéidolie in opposition to the term * phantéidolie.
References
Ey, H. (1973). Traité des hallucinations. Tomes 1 et 2. Paris: Masson et Cie., Éditeurs.
Dictionary of Hallucinations. J.D. Blom. 2010.