| 词源 |
orgasm; climax. The OED nicely defines orgasm as “the height of venereal excitement in coition” and traces this first use of the word in this jolly sense to 1771 as a “spasm of the vi- tals.” But although orgasm was originally a scientific term, de- riving from Greek organ, “to swell, be excited,” it is probably more commonly used than its synonym, the more modern cli- max, which British eugenist and birth control advocate Marie Stepes first used in this sense in 1918. The slang expression to come, dating back to about 1600, is certainly used more than ei- ther of the two and is found in the work of many modern writ- ers, including Joyce’s Selected Letters. |