narcissism

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈnɑːsɪsɪzəm/ (UK); /ˈnɑɹsəˌsɪzəm/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from German Narzissismus,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} from Narziss, German for Narcissus, the beautiful youth of Greek myth who fell in love with his own reflection in a spring and was turned into the flower.^[4][5][3] Etymonline says the German word was coined in 1899 by the psychiatrist Paul Näcke, after a comparison made in 1898 by Havelock Ellis.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Self-love and admiration, finding satisfaction in self-contemplation (1822).^[7][3]

Semantic evolution

Coleridge used the word in a letter of 1822,^[5][7] but Barnhart and Etymonline date its borrowing from German psychology to 1905.^[4][5] In psychoanalysis it names erotic pleasure in one's own body or self, treated as normal in infancy,^[2][6] while in everyday use it means excessive self-love.^[2][3][6] Narcissus himself was used as a figure of self-love by 1767.^[5] Narcissistic dates from 1916 and narcissist from 1930.^[4]

Timeline

• 1767 – Narcissus as a figure of self-love.^[5]
• 1822 – self-love, in a letter of Coleridge.^[7][3][5]
• 1905 – adopted from German in psychology.^[4][5]
• 1916 – narcissistic.^[4]
• 1930 – narcissist.^[4]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. Excessive love or admiration of oneself; vanity.
2. (psychoanalysis) Erotic pleasure in one's own body or attributes.

Word family

• narcissist
• narcissistic
• narcissistically

Related words

• narcissus
• egoism

Usage notes

Random House lists self-centeredness, smugness and egocentrism as synonyms.^[6]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
7. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press