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Origin and history of Eros

Eros(n.)

god of love, late 14c., from Greek eros (plural erotes), "god or personification of love; (carnal) love," from eran, eramai, erasthai "to desire," which is of uncertain origin. Beekes suggests it is from Pre-Greek.

The Freudian sense of "urge to self-preservation and sexual pleasure" is from 1922. Ancient Greek distinguished four ways of love: erao "to be in love with, to desire passionately or sexually;" phileo "have affection for;" agapao "have regard for, be contented with;" and stergo, used especially of the love of parents and children or a ruler and his subjects.

also from late 14c.

Entries linking to Eros

agape(n.)

c. 1600, from Greek agapē "brotherly love, charity," in Ecclesiastical use "the love of God for man and man for God," a late and mostly Christian formation from the verb agapan "greet with affection, receive with friendship; to like, love," which is of unknown origin. It sometimes is explained as *aga-pa- "to protect greatly," with intensifying prefix aga-. "The Christian use may have been influenced by Hebr. 'ahaba 'love'" [Beekes].

Agape, in plural, was used by early Christians for their "love feast," a communal meal held in connection with the Lord's Supper. "The loss of their original character and the growth of abuses led to the prohibition of them in church buildings, and in the fourth century to their separation from the Lord's supper and their gradual discontinuance" [Century Dictionary]. In modern use, often in simpler sense of "Christian love" (1856, frequently opposed to eros as "carnal or sensual love").

Erasmus

masc. proper name, Latin, literally "beloved;" related to Greek erasmios "lovely, pleasant," from eran "to love" (see Eros). Related: Erasmian.

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Trends of Eros

adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

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erogenous

"inducing erotic sensation or sexual desire," 1889, from Greek eros "sexual love" (see Eros) + -genous "producing." A slightly earlier variant was erogenic (1887), from French érogénique. Both, as OED laments, are improperly formed. Erogenous zone attested by 1905. In this conne

concupiscence

"ardent desire, improper or illicit desire, lustful feeling," mid-14c., from Old French concupiscence and directly from Late Latin concupiscentia "eager desire," from present-participle stem of Latin concupiscere, inceptive of concupere "to be very desirous of," from assimilated

psyche

Personified by the Greeks as Psykhē, the beloved of Eros, often represented as a fair young girl; the butterfly was her symbol...

libido

"psychic drive or energy, usually associated with sexual instinct," 1892, carried over untranslated in English edition of Krafft-Ebing's "Psychopathia Sexualis"; and used in 1909 in A.A. Brill's translation of Freud's "Selected Papers on Hysteria" (Freud's use of the term led to

passion

c. 1200, "the sufferings of Christ on the Cross; the death of Christ," from Old French passion "Christ's passion, physical suffering" (10c.), from Late Latin passionem (nominative passio) "suffering, enduring," from past-participle stem of Latin pati "to endure, undergo, experien

desire

"to wish or long for, express a wish to obtain," c. 1200, desiren, from Old French desirrer (12c.) "wish, desire, long for," from Latin desiderare "long for, wish for; demand, expect," the original sense perhaps being "await what the stars will bring," from the phrase de sidere "

reside

late 15c., residen, "to remain at a place," from Old French resider (15c.) and directly from Latin residere "sit down, settle; remain behind, rest, linger; be left," from re- "back, again" (see re-) + sedere "to sit" (from PIE root *sed- (1) "to sit"). The meaning "to dwell perma

sensuality

mid-14c., sensualite, "the part of man that is concerned with the senses" (now obsolete), also "lust, sinful and passionate emotion," from Old French sensualite "the five senses; impression," from Late Latin sensualitatem (nominative sensualitas) "capacity for sensation" (in Medi

nymphomania

"morbid and uncontrollable sexual desire in women," 1775, in English translation of "Nymphomania, or a Dissertation Concerning the Furor Uterinus" (1771) by French doctor Jean Baptiste Louis de Thesacq de Bienville (1726-1813), coined from Greek nymphē "bride, young wife, young l

rose

a fragrant shrub noted for its beauty and its thorns, cultivated from remote antiquity, Old English rose, from Latin rosa (source of Italian and Spanish rosa, French rose; also source of Dutch roos, German Rose, Swedish ros, Serbo-Croatian ruža, Polish róża, Russian roza, Lithuan

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