Posts Tagged ‘Origins & Definitions’

Brief History on Sex Toys

Tuesday, November 17th, 2009

Sex toys didn’t start off with batteries and small motors. In fact, sex toys date back some 30,000 years. That’s long before the invention of batteries, motors, plastics or the Internet, which has made them readily accessible from Online retailers like us, BittenLip Canada. The earliest documented evidence of sex toys is found in Upper Paleolithic art that depicts the phallic (penis) shaped dildo. These depictions leave little to the imagination and it is clear that the dildo was used to please a partner or oneself. The dildo, ladies and gentleman, predates the wheel, the toothbrush, and the vast majority of materials used in the modern sex toy.

Ancient Greek Dildo

Ancient Greek Dildo

Sex toys, and more specifically the dildo, really hit its stride with the Greeks during the third and fourth centuries BC. Dildos, derived from the Greek word “Olisbos”, made their first appearance upon a Greek vase that depicted a double-headed Dildo. Though dildos and sex toys of today are generally used among couples, in the time of Ancient Greece, Dildo’s were considered a refuge for lonely women. These Olisbos or Dildos could be easily purchased and were widely available in the Mediterranean area, being made available by traders.

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Orgasm

Wednesday, August 5th, 2009

We all love them, but have you ever wondered where the word ‘Orgasm’ originated? Well, we did and so we took to the net in search of the best historical evidence on this beloved and sacred word. Here’s what we came up with.

1684, from Fr. orgasme, from Gk. orgasmos “excitement, swelling,” from organ “be in heat, become ripe for,” lit. “to swell, be excited,” related to orge “impulse, excitement, anger,” from PIE base *wrog- “to burgeon, swell with strength” (cf. Skt. urja “a nourishment, sap, vigor,” O.Ir. ferc, ferg “anger”). The verb is attested from 1973, originally and usually in ref. to a woman’s sexual climax. Orgasmic is attested from 1935.