ecstasy [LME] The base of the word ecstasy is Greek ekstasis, which meant ‘standing outside yourself’. Ecstasy first referred to a state of frenzy or distraction, of literally being ‘beside yourself’ with fear, passion, or other strong emotion. This meaning is now encountered only rarely, but was famously used by Wilfred Owen in his war poem ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’ (written in 1917): ‘Gas! Gas! Quick, boys!—An ecstasy of fumbling, Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time.’ The word came during the 16th and 17th centuries to mean a condition of emotional or religious frenzy or heightened emotion: if you were in ecstasy you were transported by any emotion, not just happiness or pleasure. The illegal drug Ecstasy is first referred to in 1985, in the Los Angeles Times. It gained its ‘street’ name because of its euphoric effects—the chemical name is methylenedioxymethamphetamine, or MDMA.