Dictionary

Paphian en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• /ˈpeɪfɪən/ (UK)
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

From Latin Paphius [from Ancient Greek Πάφιος (Páphios), from Πάφος (Páphos, “Paphos”) + -ιος (-ios)] + English -an.

Meanings

1. (not-comparable) Of, from or relating to Paphos, the mythical birthplace of the goddess of love on the island of Cyprus.
   • Then thus incensed, the Paphian queen replies: / "Obey the power from whom thy glories rise: / Should Venus leave thee, every charm must fly, / Fade from thy cheek, and languish in thy eye. / Cease to provoke me, lest I make thee more / The world’s aversion, than their love before; / Now the bright prize for which mankind engage, / Than, the sad victim, of the public rage." 1715–1720, Homer, “Book III”, in Alexander Pope, transl., The Iliad of Homer, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintott […], →OCLC:
   • So ſaying, the might of Vulcan loos’d the ſnare, / And they, detain’d by thoſe coercive bands / No longer, from the couch upſtarting, flew, / Mars into Thrace, and to her Paphian home / The Queen of ſmiles, where deep in myrtle groves / Her incenſe-breathing altar ſtands embow’r’d. 1791, Homer, “[The Odyssey.] Book VIII.”, in W[illiam] Cowper, transl., The Iliad and Odyssey of Homer, Translated into Blank Verse, […], volume II, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], →OCLC, page 181, lines 441–446:
   • […] the Paphian deitie, 1611, Homer, translated by George Chapman, Iliads, page 281:
2. (literary, not-comparable) Pertaining to love or sexual desire, especially when illicit.
   • Cease admiration, sit to Cupid's feast, / The preparation to Paphian dalliance. 1613, John Marston, William Barksted, The Insatiate Countess, act III scene 4:
   • I lay, as it were, in the Paphian bower of bliss, in a state of exquisite sensations quite impossible to describe. 1873, Anonymous (William Potter), The Romance of Lust; or, Early Experiences, volume I, William Lazenby:
   • People passed, but they held me not. Paphian eyes rayed upon me, and left me unscathed. 1906, O. Henry, Man About Town:

Translations (7)

fr paphien (of, from or relating to Paphos) · la Paphius (of, from or relating to Paphos) · it pafio (of, from or relating to Paphos) · es pafio (of, from or relating to Paphos) · ru распу́тный (pertaining to love or sexual desire, especially when illicit) · fi paphoslainen (of, from or relating to Paphos) · la Paphiacus (of, from or relating to Paphos)

Paphian en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈpeɪfɪən/ (UK)
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

From Latin Paphius [from Ancient Greek Πάφιος (Páphios), from Πάφος (Páphos, “Paphos”) + -ιος (-ios)] + English -an.

Meanings

1. A native or inhabitant of Paphos.
   • Then there is the mastus. Apollodorus the Cyrenæan, as Pamphilus says, states that this is a name given to drinking-cups by the Paphians. 1854, Athenaeus of Naucratis, translated by Charles Duke Yonge, The Deipnosophists; or, Banquet of the Learned, volume II, page 777:
2. (literary) A prostitute.
   • A smile I had learned to know elsewhere lurked at one corner of my paphian's mouth. 1980, Gene Wolfe, chapter 9, in The Shadow of the Torturer:
   • They reach'd the hotel: forth stream'd from the front door / A tide of well-clad waiters, and around / The mob stood, and as usual several score / Of those pedestrian Paphians who abound / In decent London when the daylight's o'er; / Commodious but immoral, they are found / Useful, like Malthus, in promoting marriage. 1824, Lord Byron, Don Juan, Canto the Eleventh, XXX:

Forms

Translations (5)

ru куртиза́нка ((literary) a prostitute) · fi kurtisaani ((literary) a prostitute) · fi paphoslainen (native or inhabitant of Paphos) · fr Paphienne (native or inhabitant of Paphos) · fr Paphien (native or inhabitant of Paphos)