Embodied  derives from the verb embody  (1540s), formed by adding the prefix em- ("in" or "into") to the word body.  It signifies investing a soul, spirit, or abstract principle into a physical, animate form. The adjective form appeared in the mid-1600s, meaning to be rendered into a concrete, material existence.  Historically it was used to focused on putting a soul or idea into a "material frame".  The modern context  refers to expressing, representing, or containing an idea, quality, or spirit within a physical form.  The term essentially means giving a tangible "body" to something intangible.  

According to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), the earliest known use of the adjective embodied (or imbodied) in English is from the mid-1600s, with the earliest specific evidence dating to 1652 in the writing of poet Edward Benlowes. The verb embody appeared slightly earlier, around the 1540s.  The Verb embody was first recorded in 1548.  The Noun embodiment was first recorded much later, in 1828.  Variations in the spelling spelling as imbodied was common in early citations.