1

GREEK FOR ENGLISH STUDIES

EXAM CONTENTS

Vocabulary & Idioms

Lesson 4: Greece and the erotic legacy. Greek etymologies in the

English language.

! Aphrodisiac: something, usually a drug or food, that is believed to cause sexual

desire in people (from ἀφροδίσιος “pertaining to Aphrodite (Ἀφροδίτη), goddess
of love, beauty and sexual pleasure”).
! Erotic: relating to sexual desire and pleasure (from ἐρωτικός, “caused by
passionate love, referring to love”), from Ἔρως: god of love and desire.
! Lesbianism; Lesbian: a woman who is sexually attracted to other women (from
Λέσβος, Greek island in northeastern Aegean Sea, home of Sappho, great lyric
female poet who composed homoerotic songs).
! Homoerotic: (of art, literature, etc.) connected to or causing sexual desire for a
person of the same sex (from ὁμός “same, the same, equal, like” + ἐρωτικός
“caused by passionate love, referring to love”).
! Homophobia: a fear or dislike of gay people (from ὁμός “same, the same, equal,
like” + phobia, from φόβος “excessive or irrational fear of”). Also homophobic
(adj.). This word is said to date from 1969.
! Pederasty: illegal sex of a man with a young boy (from παιδεραστία, from παῖς,
παιδός “child, boy” + ἐραστής “lover”).
! Pedophilia: sexual interest in children (from παῖς, παιδός “child, boy” + φιλία
“friendly love, affection”).
! Zoophilia: attraction to animals involving release of sexual energy (from ζῷον
“living being, animal” + φιλία “friendly love, affection”).
! Necrophilia: being sexually attracted to dead bodies, or sexual activity with
dead bodies (from νεκρός “a dead body, corpse” + φιλία “friendly love,
affection”).
! Philanderer: a man who enjoys having sex with a lot of different women
without becoming emotionally involved with any of them. From Philander,
popular name for a lover in stories, drama, and poetry, coined from the Greek
adjective φίλανδρος “loving men,” perhaps mistaken as meaning “a loving
man,” from φιλέω-ῶ “love” + ἀνδρ, stem of ἀνήρ “man.”
! Satyriasis: excessively great venereal desire in the male, priapism (from
σάτυρος “satyr, companion of Dionysus.”
 2

! Nymphomania: a woman who likes to have sex very often, especially with a lot
of different men (from νύμφη “Nymph”, “young wife, bride” + μανία “madness,
frenzy, enthusiasm, mad passion).
! Pornography: books, magazines, films, etc. with no artistic value that describe
or show sexual acts or naked people in a way that is intended to be sexually
exciting (from πόρνη “harlot, prostitute”, originally “bought, purchased”, with
an original notion probably of “female slave sold for prostitution” + γραφία <
γράφω “write, draw, paint”).
! Hermaphrodite: from Latin Hermaphroditus, from Greek Ἑρμαφροδίτος, “person
partaking of the attributes of both sexes.” As a proper name, Ἑρμαφροδίτος was
the son of Hermes (Ἑρμῆς) and Aphrodite (Ἀφροδίτη). According to Ovid, he was
loved by the nymph Salmacis so ardently that she prayed for complete union
with him and as a result they were united bodily, combining male and female
characteristics.