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SEDUCTIVE VOCABULARY

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Complete Collection of sultry, sexy content! Books, booklets, articles and glossaries are available. Topics range from attraction to infatuation, lust, obsession, love and eternal love.
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Steamy & Scandalous Greek Sex Spinning in the Cosmos

THE GREEKS AND THEIR MYTHS DEFINED OUR VOCABULARY OF SEX

DIRECTORY OF FEATURE
Scandalous Greek Origins of Sex Vocabulary
The Greeks Wrote the Book on Love
Plato’s Symposium Syllabus of Sex
Dictionary of Delicious Debauchery (NSFW)

Reference: Greek Mythology Overview

Dictionary of Delicious Debauchery (NSFW)

SEX VOCABULARY BY THE GREEKS
​Warning - some content illegal everywhere. ​Don’t be a Zeus.


AGAPE - is the universal love, that can consist of the love for strangers, nature, or God.

​ANAPHLAO - term for masturbation, a word that playwright Aristophanes used to specifically describe the Spartans, who he considered to be ”wankers.”. The Greek philosopher “Diogenes the Cynic” routinely masturbated in public and defended it by claiming “if only it were as easy to banish hunger by rubbing my belly”. Diogenes attracted attention for more than just for masturbating in public. He also offended people by eating in the ‘agora’ or an open marketplace. This suggests that both activities carry the same level of offense?

ANDROGYNOS - derived from the Greek ‘andros’ meaning "man," and ‘gune’, meaning “woman,” is a creature that is half male and half female. In mythology, it is a god and is sometimes called a hermaphrodite (see below). Dionysos, often depicted as an effeminate young man, is said to be androgynos and was often depicted wearing women's clothing and perfume. Adonis, who had sexual relations with Apollon and Aphrodite, (among countless others) was also called androgynos because he acted "as a man for Aphrodite and a woman for Apollon". In modern times the word androgynous has lost its sexual connotaton but still means that someone is of indeterminate sex, a feminine man or a masculine woman.

AKRASIA - means lack of self-control," "immoderation," "excess," and is similar to akolasia and the opposite of sophrosune. The immoderate indulgence in pleasure (akrateia hedones) was highly problematic for the classical Greeks.

​AKRATEIA or AKOLASIA - unbridled passion

APHRODISIAC - is a substance that is supposed to increase the libido or sex drive when it is consumed either by mouth, through inhalation or absorbed through the skin. It was named for the goddess of love and lust, Aphrodite. The ancient Greek word is ἀφροδισιακόν (aphrodisiakon) and is derived from ‘aphrodisios’, meaning "pertaining to Aphrodite".
  • The Greeks believed that the root of purple-flowered MANDRAKE was their Viagra. The root of the mandrake is shaped like a pair of human legs. Garlic and leeks were also considered aphrodisiacs. Truffles, artichokes and oysters were generally associated with sexuality. Anise-tasting fennel was considered a Greek testosterone booster as it claimed strength and vitality for all men who consumed it. The Romans didn’t agree. They thought it improved eyesight. The Greeks also used saffron, pomegranate juice and lentil beans, however modern studies have indicated that results of most aphrodisiacs are useless due to the placebo effect.

APHRODISIA - used to denote “pleasures of sex” inspired by Aphrodite.

APHRODISIAZEIN - enjoy having sex. Inspired by Aphrodite.

CATAMITE - derives from the Latin ‘catamitus’ and is derived from the Greek name Ganymede or Ganymedes (Γανυμήδης). The modern meaning of "a boy kept for homosexual practices" is a reference to the myth of Ganymedes who is a beautiful boy abducted by Zeus to serve as his lover and cup bearer for eternity. Zeus again? Ganymedes appears throughout Roman literature as the archetype of the beautiful, sexually desirable male slave.

CINAEDUS, plural CINAEDI. Latin for a male who falls short of masculine sexual virtue (PUDICITIA). The word is usually understood to refer to a sexually passive male.

CIRCE - is a synonym of such words as TEMPTRESS, SIREN, and FEMME FATALE. Circe is an enchantress and is a daughter of the god Helios and either the Oceanid nymph Perse or the goddess Hecate. Circe is well known as a potion mistress and her magic would transform her enemies (men) into swine. In some languages, Circe also became a verb with the meaning "to blind someone with your charms", like Circe did. Circe is referenced in the myths for turning Odysseus' crew into swine when he came upon her island on his journey. With the assistance of Hermes, Odysseus had avoided the fate of his crew and the loss of his manhood. Circe is the origin of the concept of a ‘femme fatale.’

CONCUBINATUS - under Roman law, "cohabitation" (compare to"concubine"), which is to say, a "stable sexual relationship" but falling short of marriage. The children issuing from such a union would not be legitimate. Concubinage could become matrimony (a) if conubium existed (if Roman law recognized the right of the parties involved to marry) and (b) if intent to marry could be shown.

CUPIDO/CUPID - means lust or desire. Capitalized, Cupid (Latin Cupido) refers to the Roman god of love/lust. He also goes by the name Amor and is the Roman equivalent of Eros, wings, arrows, and all.

ECSTASY - comes from the Greek word ‘ekstasis’ which means to "stand forth naked."

ELECTRA COMPLEX - is, as Freud explains it, the inverse of his Oedipus complex. In Greek mythology, Electra despised her treacherous mother and prayed for her demise. Critics reject this theory because it ignores the libidinal differences between men and women, as well as the more traumatic genital development of females and suggesting that woman is a mutilated version of man.

EPITHUMIA - is a Greek word meaning simply "desire." Or, to break it down, epi-, "toward" or "at"; thumos, "spirit" or "gut feeling." Hence a feeling moving one toward an object to be acquired or enjoyed — desire. Eros is epithumia doubled, and mania (madness), eros doubled.

ERASTIS - lover and EROMENOS (the one who is being loved) describing a relationship usually between an adult and a boy, which was normally not a sexual one, but just a closer friendship and guidance.

EROS - is a sexual or passionate love, or a modern perspective of romantic love.

EURUPROKTOS - means “wide-assed," i.e., from having been penetrated anally on a regular basis. Used of boys/men reviled for sexual passivity; also used as (vaguely) non-sexual insult.

EROTICA - is erotic literature, art, decoration or other creative work. Erotic and erotica are words coined from Eros, god of love and sexual desire. Erotic comes from ‘eros’ (genitive erotos) meaning “sexual love.” Erotica derives from ‘erotikos’ meaning "caused by passionate love, referring to love,” and from the neuter plural of Latin ‘eroticus’ meaning “amatory” (ἐρωτικός or erōtikós). Erotica is any literary or artistic work that deals substantively with subject matter that is erotically stimulating or sexually arousing but is not pornographic. Erotic art may use any artistic form to depict erotic content, including painting, sculpture, drama, film or music. Erotic literature and erotic photography have become genres in their own right

  • A key distinction between erotica and pornography is the intent of the content. Pornography's objective is the graphic depiction of sexually explicit scenes and erotica tells a story that involves sexual themes. It includes a more plausible depiction of sexuality than in pornography. Works considered degrading or exploitative tend to be classified as porn.

FASCINUM - is Latin for an “act of bewitchment," "witchcraft"; "male or female sex organs," "phallus." The fascinum expressed the power of sex organs, male or female, but most especially male, to attract a kind of spellbound attention and therefore to induce a kind of envy (invidia), but also to break the potency of that envy, to allow envy to consume the envious subject and thus to break its malevolent magic.

FETISH, FESTISHIZE. - to treat someone/something as a fetish. As used by psychoanalysis, the word "fetish" refers to a non-sexual part of the body made the object of sexual desire. That becomes a way for (mostly males) to feel less threatened by the object of one's desire. It’s a kind of repression of the sexual side to sexual desire — if sex itself is not comfortable. . (According to Freud, it is one way to alleviate fears of castration.)

FRIGIDITY - is a term used to describe sexual “coldness” or indifference in women. The underlying causes of this condition may include fear of one’s own body, inexperience, male ineptitude, and the trauma of the wedding night.

HERMAPHRODITE - According to one myth, Zeus originally created three sexes: men, women and hermaphrodites. The hermaphrodites had two heads, two sets of arms and two sets of genitals. Alarmed by their power, he separated each one in half: some became lesbians, some became male homosexuals and some became heterosexuals. Each felt incomplete and spent his or her life trying to track his or her other half down. In modern definitions the word hermaphrodite is a biological term for an organism that has complete or partial reproductive organs and produces both eggs and sperm. Historically, it has also been used to describe ambiguous genitalia.
  • The word INTERSEX has come into usage as the preferred term as the word hermaphrodite is considered stigmatizing and has been used in a derogatory manner to reference effeminate men.
  • Hermaphrodite comes from HERMAPHRODITUS is the son of Hermes and Aphrodite. According to some sources, he was born with both genitalia while other sources say he was born male but attracted the love of a Naiad nymph and their two forms were merged into one. Neither a man nor a woman and he is depicted with female thighs, breasts, and hair and male genitalia. He is the god of marriage, hermaphrodites and of effeminates and belongs to the winged love-gods known as Erotes, also sons of Aphrodite like Eros and Anteros.

HIMEROS - is ‘desire’, ‘longing’ and ‘yearning’

HUBRIS - is ‘uncontrolled, violent sex’.

INTERCRURAL - means "between the legs," i.e., male-male intercourse where penetration happens from the front and between the legs of the passive partner. The term is used to describe Greek vase painting scenes. The theory is that the penetrator thus shields the passive partner from the indignity of anal penetration a strategy of honorable pederasty.

KATAPUGON - is Greek for "taking it down the buttocks," or anally penetrated.

KHARIS - is Greek for attractiveness, allure, charm (erotic and otherwise), grace, gratitude, favor, popularity, or pleasure. In pederasty, means especially the sexual favors offered by a beloved lover, his "gratitude" for the lover's "kindness."

KINAIDIA - Greek kinaidia is male sexual passivity.

KINAIDOS - passive homosexual

KINAIDOS is one who engages in kinaidia.

KORE - meaning a "maiden, girl".
​
​LADDER OF LOVE - is named as such because it relates each step toward being itself as consecutive rungs of a ladder. Each step closer to the truth further distances love from beauty of the body toward love that is more focused on wisdom and the essence of beauty.The ladder starts with carnal attraction of body for body, progressing to a love for body and soul. Eventually, in time, with consequent steps up the ladder, the idea of beauty is eventually no longer connected with a body, but entirely united with being itself.

LENO - Latin for male pimp (female "madam," "procuress" is a lena)

LENOCINIUM - is the practice of pimping (or of "madaming").

LUDUS - is a playful and uncommitted love, this is focused for fun and sometimes as a conquest with no strings attached.

MALAKOS - means someone who yields to various urges without examination, usually unable to suffer the hardships that some decisions may require.
​
METROKOITES -is a man who slept with his mother. Contrast to thugatromixia which is the act of sleeping with one’s own daughter. Incest was euphemistically referred to as gamos anosios or gamos asebes which literally means ‘unholy union’. Incest, derived from the Latin word ‘incestum which literally means something not castum, or not pure, and therefore refers to a whole host of sexual activities that were said to violate some moral, religious or legal boundary.

MOIKHEIA - adultery.

NYMPHOMANIA - derives from the mosaic of a nymph fellating a satyr. A nymph is a minor goddess or spirit bound to a particular location such as dryads who live in trees. Dionysos and Aura reference oreads who live in the hills and mountains while naiads live in the sea. They are usually depicted as beautiful, nubile young women who love to dance and sing and have sex. Their sexual freedom contrasts the restricted lives of wives and daughters in the Greek polis who were supposed to be chaste and faithful. Because of their sensuality, nymphs were frequently the target of amorous satyrs and gods alike. Their attention was not always appreciated, but in general the nymphs happily made love to men or women freely.

NYMPHE - does not refer to the lustful deities in particular, but is used primarily for a "nubile young woman, bride, young wife", a young women at the peak of her sexual attractiveness. Greeks viewed women as more libidinous than men because sex doesn't stop for them after the (first) orgasm. Today, nymphomania describes extremely frequent or suddenly increased libido in women. The word is no longer in use by healthcare professionals who prefer the unisex term ‘HYPERSEXUALITY’, but in colloquial speech, nymphomania is still used despite its derogatory connotation.

OEDIPUS COMPLEX is a concept, introduced in 1899 by psychoanalyst, Sigmund Freud.
The positive Oedipus complex refers to a child’s unconscious sexual desire for the opposite-sex parent and hatred for the same-sex parent. The negative Oedipus complex refers to a child’s unconscious sexual desire for the same-sex parent and hatred for the opposite-sex parent. Oedipus, a tragic character from Greek mythology, fulfills a prophecy when he unintentionally kills his father and marries his mother. bringing catastrophe and misery upon his city and family. Oedipus is the subject of a Greek tragedy;
Oedipus Rex, written by Greek playwright, Sophocles.

  • Ovid, in his 15-book poem Metamorphoses containing tales of mythological transformation, were several stories of incest. Among them is the tale of Myrrha, who has sex with her own father before turning into a tree, and of Byblis, who falls in love with her own brother but cries when he refuses to sleep with her. Ovid was no stranger to the erotic, and his visceral poetic perspective highlights how intrigued the Romans were by such a taboo subject as incest.
  • The most powerful example of literary incest, however, comes from Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex, which was first performed in 429 BC. It centers on the protagonist’s incestuous relationship, and examines the disastrous consequences of the shocking revelation that he has unwittingly married his own mother. Over 2000 years later, that play inspired Sigmund Freud to coin his theory ‘the Oedipal complex’ and thus demonstrating a cultural connection between ancient and modern times.

OS IMPURUM - is Latin for “impure mouth," i.e., a mouth that has been used for sex. The implication is that the mouth is polluted and thus rendered unsuitable for functions like speaking in public.

PAIDIKA - is referring to a male beloved (eromenos) it means "darling," or maybe "boyfriend."

PALLAKE - is Greek for "concubine," ordinarily, an unfree woman "kept" by a man for the purpose of intercourse. A slave prostitute, if purchased by a man for his exclusive use, can be called a pallake.

PARTHENOS - meaning "a virgin (of any age)
​
PATHICUS - is Latin (from Greek) for “sexually passive."

PATHOS - can mean ‘passion’ in a damaging or deviant context.

PEDERASTY - (paedophilia) in Greece probably originated with the Cretans. Cretan pederasty involved the ritual kidnapping - called HARPAGMOS - of a boy from an highly elite background by an aristocratic adult male, usually with consent of the boy’s father. This adult male was called a ‘PHILETOR’ or a “befriender”. The boy was referred to as KLEINOS or “glorious”. The man took the boy out to the wild where they would spend a couple of months doing “man” things like months of hunting. The boy learned life skills, respect and responsibility. Like the Boy Scouts. But like the scouts, the troop leader was after more than gutting a kill. It is generally assumed that the philetor would have sex with the boy as soon he got the chance. If the boy was ok with how this went down he would become a ‘PARASTATES’, or comrade, signifying that he had metaphorically “fought in battle” alongside his philetor and would return to society to live with his rapist. The man would shower the boy with expensive trinkets to signify his change in status. One gift was an ox to sacrifice to Zeus. The boy then had to choose a life with the rapist or to denounce him and end it.

PHILIA - is the type of love that is directed towards friendship or goodwill, often is met with mutual benefits that also can be formed by companionship, dependability, and trust.

PHILAUTIA - denoting self-love. To love oneself or "regard for one's own happiness or advantage" has been conceptualized both as a basic human necessity and as a moral flaw, akin to vanity and selfishness,synonymous with amour-propre or egotism. The Greeks further divided this love into positive and negative: one, the unhealthy version, is the self-obsessed love, and the other is the concept of self-compassion.
​
PLATONIC LOVE - is a type of love that is not sexual. It is named after Greek philosopher Plato, though the philosopher never used the term himself. Platonic love as devised by Plato concerns rising through levels of closeness to wisdom and true beauty from carnal attraction to individual bodies to attraction to souls, and eventually, union with the truth. This is the ancient, philosophical interpretation.
​
PORNOGRAPHY - originates in ancient Greek culture but not in Greek mythology. The Greek word ‘porneia’ is the root of the word and is derived from Greek ‘pernemi’ (πέρνημι), meaning "to sell" (a ‘pornē’ was a type of prostitute in ancient Greece. ‘Pornai’ were the lowest kind of prostitute. They could be male (pornoi) or female (pornai). The price is often said to be "an obolos", which was 1/6 of a drachma as well as a proverbial coin of low value or a good bargain. The cheapest sex position was called ‘kubda’ which is a rear-entry position with both partners standing or, more kolloquial, "bent over in the street". The modern word pornography means "writing about prostitutes", even though it's used for visual media much, much more than for writing.

PORNOS - means essentially someone who doesn’t respect his/her body, making of it an object of lust
​
PORNEIA - ncludes prostitution, extramarital sexual intercourse, paedophilia, promiscuity, homosexuality, lesbianism, incest, premarital sex and bestiality, but not pornography.

POTHOS - is Greek for "longing," "the pang of absence," "desire."

PRAGMA - is the type of love that is founded on duty and reason, and one's longer-term interests.

PUDICITIA - is Latin for chastity, sexual virtue or sexual purity.

SATYRS and SATYRIASIS - depicted in Greek mythology as beast-like men with a horse’s tail, donkey’s ears, upturned pug nose, receding hairline and erect penis, have a reputation for being quite the masturbators with a penchant for rape, sodomy and necrophilia. A satyr had an insatiable passion for dancing, women and wine. Satyrs were experts on the ‘aulos’, a phallic-shaped double reed instrument. Some artwork like vase paintings show satyrs ejaculating while playing the aulos. Satyrs have coined the word satyriasis, which has come to mean HYPERSEXUALITY today as classified in the World Health Organization's International Classification of Diseases (ICD). It was, however, originally listed as a “sexual deviation.”

  • The word satyriasis appears frequently in the works of medical authors of the Roman empire. For example, Soranus argued that the genital “itching” women felt that makes them “touch themselves” increases their sexual urges and therefore causes “mental derangement” and an immodest desire for a man. The Greek physician Galen called the same argument ‘FUROR UTERINUS’ or “uterine fury.” Considering how lax the ancients were about sex it is strange that they categorized female masturbation as a deviant behavior and labeled it a “uterine fury.”
  • SATYRIASIS derives from the Ancient Greek “SÁTYROS (σάτυρος)”, meaning “God of the woods, a friend of Bacchus, goat-footed”. In Greek mythology, a satyr is one of a troop of male companions of Pan and Dionysus. One has goat-like (caprine) features, including a goat-tail, goat-like ears, and sometimes a goat-like phallus. In Roman Mythology there is a similar concept with goat-like features. The Faun is half-man, half-goat.

PRIAPISM - is named for the rustic god Priapos, a son of Aphrodite who was cursed with an oversized, constant erection by Hera when he was still in Aphrodite's womb. Despite his permanently erect penis, he could not sustain the erection when the time came for sexual intercourse. The ancient texts reference men under the influence of wine find the penis “tense and inclined to the pleasures of love." In modern definition, Priapos refers to a condition in which the penis remains erect for hours in the absence of stimulation or after stimulation has ended.

RHAPHANIDOO - punishment for adultery with a married woman was to have a radish shoved up his rectum. It was colloquially called a ‘radish reaming’ or ‘radish rape’ but the term is rhaphanidoo. It was considered a symbol of the erect male penis delighting in revenge. Another humiliating penalty was shaving the adulterer’s pubic hair to make him look effeminate. If a husband caught his wife and an adulterer in the act, he was afforded the opportunity to do whatever he wished to him.

STORGE - is the type of love that is found between parents and children, and this is often a unilateral love.

TANTALIZE - to tease people by letting them see something they desire, but not letting them have it. Tantalus, the king of Sipylus, was
favored among mortals since he was invited to share the food of the gods. However, he abused the relationship and was punished by being "tantalized" with hunger and thirst in Tartarus: he was immersed up to his neck in water, and if he bent down to drink, all of it drained away. And there were luscious fruits that hung on trees above him, but when he reached for it the winds blew the branches away.

Isn’t the Greek language fascinating?
INTERESTED IN THE GREEKS?
Feature: The Greek Story of Soulmates
The Language of the Ancient Greeks
Greek Untranslatable Words
DIRECTORY OF FEATURE
Scandalous Greek Origins of Sex Vocabulary
The Greeks Wrote the Book on Love
Plato’s Symposium Syllabus of Sex
Dictionary of Delicious Debauchery (NSFW)

Reference: Greek Mythology Overview

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