Word of the Day: Fetish

fet⋅ish [fet-ish, fee-tish]

–noun

1.	an object regarded with awe as being the embodiment or habitation of a potent spirit or as having magical potency.

2.	any object, idea, etc., eliciting unquestioning reverence, respect, or devotion: to make a fetish of high grades.

3.	Psychology. any object or nongenital part of the body that causes a habitual erotic response or fixation.

Also, fetich.

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Origin:
1605–15; earlier fateish < class="ital-inline">feitiço charm, sorcery (n.), artificial (adj.) < class="ital-inline">factīcius factitious; r. fatisso, fetisso < class="luna-Img" src="http://cache.lexico.com/dictionary/graphics/luna/thinsp.png" alt="" border="0">

Related forms:

fet⋅ish⋅like, adjective

Synonyms:
1. talisman, amulet.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.

fetish

1613, fatisso, from Port. fetiço “charm, sorcery,” originally feitiço “made artfully, artificial,” from L. facticius “made by art,” from facere “to make” (see factitious). L. facticius in Sp. has become hechizo “magic, witchcraft, sorcery.” Probably introduced by Port. sailors and traders as a name for charms and talismans worshipped by the inhabitants of the Guinea coast of Africa. Popularized in anthropology by C. de Brosses’ Le Culte des Dieux Fétiches (1760), which influenced the word’s spelling in Eng. (Fr. fétiche, also from the Port. word). Figurative sense of “something irrationally revered” is Amer.Eng. 1837. Fetishism in the purely psycho-sexual sense first recorded 1897 in writings of Henry Havelock Ellis (1859-1939).

“In certain perversions of the sexual instinct, the person, part of the body, or particular object belonging to the person by whom the impulse is excited, is called the fetish of the patient.” [E. Morselli in "Baldwin Dictionary of Philosophy," 1901]

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper

Fetishes and fetishists are usually the subject of ridicule and scorn in popular society even though the majority of people have fetishes. I suppose all the derision comes from repressed individuals who are in denial of their natures. When the subject of fetishes is treated in the mainstream, they are always regarded as weird at best or sociopathic at worst. Indeed, some fetishes can be weird and some can be very dangerous to the object, usually a person, being fetishized. However, I believe these are extreme expressions and the vast majority of fetishes are harmless.

While I do not believe all fetishes are inherently sexual I do believe they are inherently sensual in that all the natural senses are gratified by the contact with it. This interview from The Onion’s A.V. Club with burlesque beauty Dita Von Teese also discusses the fascinating subject of fetish as well.