The term incest has its origins in Middle English, where it first appeared in a thirteenth-century guide on living a virtuous life as an anchoress. It is believed to have evolved from the Old French inceste, which traces back to the Latin adjective incestus, denoting anything impure, unholy, or forbidden. The word is a combination of the prefix in-, meaning “not”, and castus, meaning “pure” or “chaste”. Interestingly, the term has given rise to other words such as chaste, derived from the same root, as well as the verb castigate (originally meaning “to make pure”) and the noun caste (associated with “pure” social groups). Delving deeper, in- stems from Proto-Indo-European ne, signifying “not”, while castus is derived from the Latin verb carere, meaning “to be cut off from” (illustrating how something pure is separated from impurities), which can be traced back to the Proto-Indo-European root kes, also meaning “to cut”.
