nympholepsy

Dec. 1st, 2010 07:29 am
prettygoodword: text: words are sexy (Default)
[personal profile] prettygoodword
nympholepsy (NIM-fuh-lep-see) - n., a frenzy of emotion, as for something unattainable.


Sometimes, thanks to Nabokov, specifically associated with a Lolita complex, but it's a general object of desire. Coined in 1774 from nympholept using the model of epilepsy; nympholept in turn is from Greek nympholēptos, frenzy, literally caught by nymphs (nymphē + lambanein, to seize). La!

---L.

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