avarice

Before avarice narrowed its gaze to money, medieval English speakers could use it for an excessive hunger for knowledge, glory, or power. The word arrived around 1300 through Old French, carrying the Latin noun avāritia into the moral vocabulary of the seven deadly sins. Its deeper ancestor, reconstructed as Proto-Indo-European *heu-eh-, supposedly meant “to enjoy” or “consume”—a cheerful beginning for a word that eventually learned to clutch its purse. That same ancient family may reach toward Sanskrit words for food and gluttony, Welsh ewyllys (“will”), and Armenian aviwn (“lust”): appetite, desire, and greed standing around one linguistic dinner table. Avarice is what happens when wanting stops at nothing, even after the cupboard—and the bank account—are already full.