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Origin and history of salacious

salacious(adj.)

1660s, "lustful, lecherous," from Latin salax (genitive salacis) "lustful," probably originally "fond of leaping," as in a male animal leaping on a female in sexual advances, from salire "to leap" (see salient (adj.)). It is attested earlier in the later-rare sense of "tending to provoke lust" (1640s). The earliest form of the word in English is a noun, salacity "lustfulness" (c. 1600). Related: Salaciously; salaciousness.

also from 1660s

Entries linking to salacious

salient(adj.)

1560s, "leaping," a heraldic term, from Latin salientem (nominative saliens), present participle of salire "to leap," from a PIE root of uncertain form (source also of Sanskrit sisarsi, sisrate "to flow, run, hurry;"Greek hallesthai "to leap," Middle Irish saltraim "I trample," Middle Welsh sathar "trampling").

The meaning "pointing outward" (preserved in military usage) is from 1680s; that of "prominent, striking" first recorded 1840, from salient point (1670s), which refers to the heart of an embryo, which seems to leap, and translates Latin punctum saliens, going back to Aristotle's writings. Hence, the "starting point" of anything.

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    lewd
    Middle English leued, from Old English læwede "nonclerical, unlearned," of uncertain origin but according to OED probably ultimately from Vulgar Latin *laigo-, from Late Latin laicus "belonging to the people" (see lay (adj.)). Sense of "unlettered, uneducated" (early 13c.) descen
    obscene
    1590s, "offensive to the senses, or to taste and refinement," from French obscène (16c.), from Latin obscenus "offensive," especially to modesty, originally "boding ill, inauspicious," a word of unknown origin; perhaps from ob "in front of" (see ob-) + caenum "filth." The meaning
    raunchy
    1939, "clumsy, careless, sloppy; a name applied to anything that is dirty or in bad shape," U.S. Army Air Corps slang, a word of unknown etymology. Origins among cadets in Texas suggest a possible connection to Mexican Spanish rancho (see ranch (n.)), which had connotations of an
    spicy
    The figurative sense of "racy, salacious" dates from 1844....
    leg
    By 1870s as an adjective it had a salacious suggestion of artistic displays focused on the female form, such as leg-piece...
    prurient
    1630s, "itching," later, and now exclusively, "having an itching desire for something" (1650s), especially "lascivious, inclined to lewd thoughts," (1746), from Latin prurientem (nominative pruriens), present participle of prurire "to itch; to long for, be wanton," which is perha
    lustful
    Old English lustful "wishful, desirous, having an eager desire;" see lust (n.) + -ful. Specifically of immoderate sexual desire from 1570s. Related: Lustfully; lustfulness. Formerly also "vigorous" (1560s), a sense now given to lusty. Middle English also had lustsome, which was u
    contingent
    late 14c., "depending upon circumstances, not predictable with certainty, provisionally liable to exist," from Old French contingent or directly from Latin contingentem (nominative contingens) "happening; touching," in Medieval Latin "possible, contingent," present participle of
    blue-blood
    1809 in reference to the blood that flows in the veins of the old and aristocratic families of Spain, translating Spanish sangre azul, claimed by certain families of Castile that held themselves uncontaminated by Moorish or Jewish admixture; the term probably is from the notion o
    Aryan
    c. 1600, as a term in classical history, from Latin Arianus, Ariana, from Greek Aria, Areia, names applied in classical times to the eastern part of ancient Persia and to its inhabitants. Ancient Persians used the name in reference to themselves (Old Persian ariya-), hence Iran.

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