narcissism English · revision 2417

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ˈnɑːsɪsɪzəm/ ''(UK)''; /ˈnɑɹsəˌsɪzəm/ ''(US)''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|de|Narzissismus]],^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(RHWU) 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.^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate) Etymonline says the German word was coined in 1899 by the psychiatrist Paul Näcke, after a comparison made in 1898 by Havelock Ellis.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Self-love and admiration, finding satisfaction in self-contemplation (1822).^(OED 1989)^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Coleridge used the word in a letter of 1822,^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) but Barnhart and Etymonline date its borrowing from German psychology to 1905.^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline) In psychoanalysis it names erotic pleasure in one's own body or self, treated as normal in infancy,^(AHD)^(RHWU) while in everyday use it means excessive self-love.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU) Narcissus himself was used as a figure of self-love by 1767.^(Etymonline) ''Narcissistic'' dates from 1916 and ''narcissist'' from 1930.^(Barnhart 1995)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1767 – Narcissus as a figure of self-love.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1822 – self-love, in a letter of Coleridge.^(OED 1989)^(MW Collegiate)^(Etymonline)

+ * 1905 – adopted from German in psychology.^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)

+ * 1916 – ''narcissistic''.^(Barnhart 1995)

+ * 1930 – ''narcissist''.^(Barnhart 1995)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # Excessive love or admiration of oneself; vanity.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(psychoanalysis)'' Erotic pleasure in one's own body or attributes.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[narcissist]]

+ * [[narcissistic]]

+ * [[narcissistically]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[narcissus]]

+ * [[egoism]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Random House lists ''self-centeredness'', ''smugness'' and ''egocentrism'' as synonyms.^(RHWU)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}