Wittgenstein's Urbild

In his Tractatus, Wittgenstein talks about Urbilder:

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Das Eigentümliche der Allgemeinheitsbezeichnung ist erstens, dass sie auf ein logisches Urbild hinweist, und zweitens, dass sie Konstante hervorhebt.


The English translation of Urbild, according to both Ogden and Pears, should be "prototype". Max Black proposes "proto-picture", and even this might be misleading.

Ur corresponds to "proto" only if we call the jungle "protoforest" (Urwald), our origin "proto-origin" (Ursprung) and our first (or last) principle "protoprinciple" (Urprinzip). We would rather not. The prefix Ur- sometimes indicates something arcaic (Urzeit) and sometimes something very basic (Urgrund) – the English "prototype", however, is usually applied to cars instead: it is something that still has to be revised and improved.

Kant uses Urbild in order to translate the Platonic "idea". Which, looking back at the Tractatus, could be interesting indeed.