Etymology

libido dominandi

Today it means: The will to power; the desire to dominate; the lust for government. Full definition →

Latin libīdō dominandī
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The story

  1. Latin · borrowed fromlibīdō dominandī“lust for domination”
  2. English todaylibido dominandi

Unadapted borrowing from Latin libīdō dominandī (“lust for domination”). The term is taken from the first book of Saint Augustine's work De civitate Dei (published in 426).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.