Today's Word "Lascivious"
Published in Vocabulary
lascivious \lae-SI-vi-yehs\ (adjective) - Lustful, lewd, wanton; eliciting or expressing carnal desire.
"I say, gentlemen, that lascivious details cannot be screened by a moral ending, otherwise one could account all the orgies imaginable, one could decribe all the depravities of a harlot, so long as she were to made to die on a pallet in the poorhouse." -- Gustave Flaubert, 'Madame Bovary'
Today's word comes from Late Latin lasciviosus, the adjective of lascivia "lewdness, playfulness," itself from lascivus "lustful, sportive, playful" from the Proto-Indo-European root *las- "to be eager, wanton, or just unruly." Akin to "lust," highly resemblant cousin of German Lust "love, desire" as in Wanderlust "love of travel." From an older word "lascivy" = "lasciviousness," this word seems to have run amok, accumulating several suffixes only to return full circle semantically to its original meaning. The adverb is "lasciviously" and the current noun is "lasciviousness." The verb is lasciviate "to behave lewdly." Avoid such behavior at all costs but enjoy the word when criticizing others.
Comments