We've noted that many words pertaining to sex are l-words, such as lascivious, lecher, lenocinant, lewd, libertine, libido, licentious, loose, Lothario, lust.

I wondered if all or many might come from some common source, but checking AHD showed that they do not – according to AHD and etymology on-line.

But I have my doubts. Many of the supposedly separate roots revolve around a concept of "freedom": free-flowing water and licking; freedom and license; freedom and liberation. For example, here are what those authorities list as the ultimate sources of some of our l-words:

• leubh- "to care, desire; love" gave us love and libido
  
• leudh- (to mount up, grow) led to Latin liber, free, from which we get libertine (and also "liberal" and "liberty").
  
• las- (to be eager, wanton, or unruly) gave us lascivious and lust (and also wanderlust") – though it also links this to a German word meaning "pleasure", not "wanton".
  
• leigh- (to lick) gave us lecher.
  [But these authorities don't connect this "to lick" with "liquid" or "lingual" (tongue): AHD traces them back only to Latin's liqui "to melt, flow;" and lingua "tongue."]
  
• Latin licere (to be allowed) gave us lascivious (as well as "license" and "licit")

Do you see a pattern here? My strong suspicion is that most or all of our sexual l-words (and one might add lickerish, love and like, and perhaps leave [permission]) trace back to some root meaning something like "freedom" or "unconstrained from doing what pleases you". Can anyone help me dig deeper?

[This message was edited by wordnerd on Sun Oct 12th, 2003 at 14:19.]

Whether there's a common root I know not, but it appears that a perversion of original intent and/or meaning created their sexual connotations in most cases. Perhaps we just like to find sex wherever we look! Some of us just relax and enjoy it more than others, though!