érotique

Forms

érotique (plural érotiques)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin erōticus (“concerning love”), which is from Ancient Greek ἐρωτικός (erōtikós), from ἔρως (érōs, “love, sexual desire”).^[2][3][1] The origin of the Greek noun, also the name of a god, is not known.^[3] The TLFi dates the borrowing to the middle of the 16th century;^[2][4][5][6] Bloch and Wartburg, the Grand Robert and the Petit Robert give 1566.^[2][4][5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first use, in the middle of the 16th century, is in Guillaume du Choul's hymnes erotiques, of Greek antiquity, with the sense “relating to love”.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

First used of Greek antiquity, the word took on a modern literary value, “treating of love”, as in an ode érotique, and as a noun it named an author of love poetry (les érotiques grecs).^[3][7] The sense “relating to sensual love” is recorded in Chamfort in 1794,^[2][3] and in medicine Littré gives délire érotique.^[7] The precise senses “relating to sexual love” and “aphrodisiac” have aged; the dominant senses today are “having to do with sexual pleasure and desire” and “having sexual pleasure as its subject”, as in a film érotique.^[3] As a feminine noun (1827), érotique means a conception of eroticism.^[3]

Timeline

• mid-16th century – Guillaume du Choul writes of hymnes erotiques.^[2]
• 1566 – The date given by Bloch and Wartburg and the Robert dictionaries.^[4][5]
• 1794 – Chamfort uses it of sensual love;^[2][3] érotisme appears in Restif de la Bretonne.^[2][3]
• 1796 – Érotiquement is recorded.^[2][3]
• 1827 – The feminine noun, a conception of eroticism.^[3]
• 1856 – The masculine noun for an author of love poetry, in the Goncourts.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (formal) Treating of or celebrating love: la poésie érotique.^[6][2]
2. Having to do with physical love and sexual pleasure and desire: un roman érotique.^[6][3]
3. (medicine) Délire érotique, a pathological sexual obsession.^[6][7]
4. Arousing sexual desire: une danse érotique.^[6]

Noun

1. (masculine) An author of love poetry, especially among the Greeks: les érotiques grecs.^[7][3]
2. (feminine) A conception or theory of love and eroticism.^[3][8]

Word family

• érotiquement
• érotisme
• érotiser

Related words

• éros
• Ancient Greek ἐρωτικός (erōtikós)

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF