IdiomBody & Senses
FrenchCrude
FrenchCrudeSacrifier à Vénus
Meaning: To have sex.
Literally: To sacrifice to Venus
Example: “Dans la comédie, le vieux marquis rêve encore de sacrifier à Vénus.” — In the comedy, the old marquis still dreams of paying homage to Venus.
Origin: Sacrifier comes from Latin sacrificare, to offer up to a deity, but in the 17th century sacrifier à took the figurative sense 'to do the will of'. So this is to do the will of Venus, goddess of love — the same root that gives French vénérien (venereal). Attested with this meaning from the early 19th century and now largely forgotten, unlike the activity.
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