archetype

Short definition from Wiktionary

Noun

1. 1
   An original model of which all other similar concepts, objects, or persons are merely copied, derivative, emulated, or patterned; a prototype.
2. 2
   An ideal example of something; a quintessence.
3. 3
   A character, object, or story that is based on a known character, object, or story.
4. 4
   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.
5. 5
   A protograph (“original manuscript of a text from which all further copies derive”).

Verb

1. 1
   To depict as, model using, or otherwise associate an object or subject with an archetype.