An archetype is the original model, form, or pattern from which something is made or developed1. It is useful and instructive to further quote the example from the source: “in…oral ballads, variation has gone so far that it is impossible to reconstruct the exact words of the [archetype] .” (my emphasis). An archetypical example can be used as the basis for derivation of a wide variety of detailed implementations, some of which might bear only a vague resemblance to it. The concept is very fluid.
Footnotes- Merriam-Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary, Version 3.4.215.26599, 2014.[↩]