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Origin and history of voyeur

voyeur(n.)

a scopophiliac, 1889 as a French word in English, from French voyeur, literally "one who views or inspects," from voir "to view," from Latin videre "to see" (from PIE root *weid- "to see").

Je ne puis pourtant omettre une catégorie de sadistes assez étonnants; ce sont ceux qu'on désigne sous le nom de "voyeurs." Ceux-ci cherchent une excitation dans les spectacles impudiques. [Léo Taxil, "La Prostitution Contemporaine," 1884]

also from 1889

Entries linking to voyeur

voyeurism(n.)

"scopophilia, state or condition of being a voyeur," 1913; see voyeur + -ism. Related: Voyeurist (1955), a needless variant.

voyeuristic(adj.)

"of or pertaining to a voyeur or voyeurism," 1919; see voyeur + -istic. Related: Voyeuristically.

*weid-

Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to see."

It might form all or part of: advice; advise; belvedere; clairvoyant; deja vu; Druid; eidetic; eidolon; envy; evident; guide; guidon; guise; guy (n.1) "small rope, chain, wire;" Gwendolyn; Hades; history; idea; ideo-; idol; idyll; improvisation; improvise; interview; invidious; kaleidoscope; -oid; penguin; polyhistor; prevision; provide; providence; prudent; purvey; purview; review; revise; Rig Veda; story (n.1) "connected account or narration of some happening;" supervise; survey; twit; unwitting; Veda; vide; view; visa; visage; vision; visit; visor; vista; voyeur; wise (adj.) "learned, sagacious, cunning;" wise (n.) "way of proceeding, manner;" wisdom; wiseacre; wit (n.) "mental capacity;" wit (v.) "to know;" witenagemot; witting; wot.

It might also be the source of: Sanskrit veda "I know;" Avestan vaeda "I know;" Greek oida, Doric woida "I know," idein "to see;" Old Irish fis "vision," find "white," i.e. "clearly seen," fiuss "knowledge;" Welsh gwyn, Gaulish vindos, Breton gwenn "white;" Gothic, Old Swedish, Old English witan "to know;" Gothic weitan "to see;" English wise, German wissen "to know;" Lithuanian vysti "to see;" Bulgarian vidya "I see;" Polish widzieć "to see," wiedzieć "to know;" Russian videt' "to see," vest' "news," Old Russian vedat' "to know."

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    looker
    Old English locere "one engaged in looking," agent noun from look (v.). Meaning "one who watches over" is from c. 1300. Sense of "one who has a certain appearance" is late 15c.; slang meaning "attractive woman" attested from 1893 (good-looker is attested from 1866, both of women
    spectator
    "one who looks on, a beholder," 1580s, from Latin spectator "viewer, watcher," agent noun from past-participle stem of spectare "to view, watch" (see spectacle). Related: Spectatorial; spectatorship. Fem. form spectatress (1630s) is less classically correct than spectatrix (1610s
    review
    mid-15c., review, revewe, reveue, "a formal inspection of military forces" by a higher official or superior in rank, to judge the effectiveness of their training, from Old French reveue "a reviewing, review" (Modern French revue), noun use of fem. past participle of reveeir "to s
    nom
    French for "name" (9c.), from Latin nomen (see nominal). It is used in various phrases in English, such as nom de guerre (1670s) "fictitious name used by a person engaged in some action," literally "war name" and formerly in France a name taken by a soldier on entering the servic
    law
    Old English lagu (plural laga, combining form lah-) "ordinance, rule prescribed by authority, regulation; district governed by the same laws;" also sometimes "right, legal privilege," from Old Norse *lagu "law," collective plural of lag "layer, measure, stroke," literally "someth
    rice
    mid-13c., ris, "edible seeds or grains of the rice plant, one of the world's major food grains," from Old French ris, from Italian riso, from Latin oriza, from Greek oryza "rice," via an Indo-Iranian language (compare Pashto vriže, Old Persian brizi), ultimately from Sanskrit vri
    Pluto
    Roman god of the underworld, early 14c., from Latin Pluto, Pluton, from Greek Ploutōn "god of wealth," from ploutos "wealth, riches," probably originally "overflowing," from PIE root *pleu- "to flow." The alternative Greek name or epithet of Hades in his function as the god of we
    abolish
    "put an end to, do away with," mid-15c., from Old French aboliss-, present-participle stem of abolir "to abolish" (15c.), from Latin abolere "destroy, efface, annihilate; cause to die out, retard the growth of," which is perhaps from ab "off, away from" (see ab-) + the second ele
    consternation
    "astonishment combined with terror," 1610s, from French consternation "dismay, confusion," from Latin consternationem (nominative consternatio) "confusion, dismay," noun of state from past-participle stem of consternare "overcome, confuse, dismay, perplex, terrify, alarm," which
    fiction
    early 15c., ficcioun, "that which is invented or imagined in the mind," from Old French ficcion "dissimulation, ruse; invention, fabrication" (13c.) and directly from Latin fictionem (nominative fictio) "a fashioning or feigning," noun of action from past participle stem of finge

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