Full Idea
The Aristotelian notion of essence was the forerunner of the modern notion of intension or meaning. ...Meaning is what essence becomes when it is divorced from the object of reference and wedded to the word.
Gist of Idea
Aristotelian essence of the object has become the modern essence of meaning
Source
Willard Quine (Two Dogmas of Empiricism [1953], §1)
Book Reference
Quine,Willard: 'From a Logical Point of View' [Harper and Row 1963], p.22
A Reaction
Quine first wants to jettison de re necessity (essence of the object), by shifting it to de dicto necessity (necessity in meaning), but he subsequently rejects that as well, presumably because he doesn't even believe in meanings.