The term seduce was first recorded in the year 1477 CE, predating the word seduction by approximately a century. During that time, there was no standard spelling, leading to variations such as seduyse, seducit, and sedoussit being commonly used. Originally, the term did not carry the same meaning as it does today – it initially referred specifically to vassals abandoning political allegiance, with the connotation of “enticing into sexual relations” only emerging in the 1550s. Its origins can be traced back to the Latin word seducere, which translates to “lead away”. The root of the word, ducere, means “to lead” (derived from Proto-Italic douko, believed to have originated from the Proto-Indo-European reconstruction dewk, possibly meaning “pull” or “draw”), while the prefix se- signifies “without” or “away” (from PIE swe, meaning “self”). The usage of seduce in literary works has been on the rise since reaching a low point in the 1910s.
