philauty

Examples

• 1721, Nathan Bailey, Divers Proverbs Every Man thinks his own Geese Swans. This Proverb intimates that an inbred Philauty runs through the whole Race of Flesh and Blood and that Self-love is the Mother of Vanity, Pride, and Mistake. It turns a Man's Geese into Swans, his Dunghill Poultry into Pheasants and his Lambs into Venison.
• 1721, Richard Chenevix Trench, Synonyms of the New Testament The φίλαυτος is exactly our 'selfish', and φίλαυτία 'selfishness'; but this contemplated rather as an undue sparing of self and providing things easy and pleasant for self, than as harshness and rigour toward others. Thus φίλαυτος is joined with φιλοψυχος by Plutarch, this last epithet indicating one loving his life overmuch. Before the English language had generated the word 'selfishness,' which it did not until the middle of the seventeenth century, there was an attempt made to supply an evident want in our ethical terminology by aid of philauty; thus see Beaumont's Psyche, passim, and other similar poems. Philauty however, never succeeded in obtaining any firm footing among us, and 'suicism', which was a second attempt, as little; an appeal to the Latin proving as unsuccessful as that to the Greek. Nor was the deficiency effectually supplied till the Puritan divines, drawing upon our native stock of words, brought in 'selfish' and 'selfishness'.