Anorexia Nervosa is derived from the Greek word orexis, meaning appetite. Literally it means a "nervous loss of appetite." The first descriptions of the disorder appeared in the medical literature in the 1870's. Before that time self-starvation was primarily considered either a symptom of physical distress or a religious rite. Ernest-Charles Lasegue and Sir William Withey Gull were among the first to report cases of "anorexie hysterique" or "anorexia hysterica" which closely resembled today's anorexia nervosa.