Etymologically
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culus

Etymology and origin of the Latin word culus

History

Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈkuː.ɫʊs][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈkuː.lus][1]

Forms

cūlus m (genitive cūlī); second declension[1]

Etymology

It goes back to Proto-Italic *kūlo- (“back”), from Proto-Indo-European *kuH-lo- (“backside, rear”).[2][1] Pokorny connected it with a root *(s)keu- “to cover”, which has since been abandoned as a verbal root; de Vaan suggests instead a link with Germanic *hūdiz “hide” and Latin cutis, and through them with Proto-Indo-European *keh₂u- (“to cleave”), the root he also sees in cauda “tail”.[2][1][3] Older dictionaries compared Ancient Greek κοῖλος (koîlos, “hollow”).[4]

Cognate with Old Irish cúl (“back”), Welsh cil (“corner, recess”) and Old Cornish chil.[2][5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is attested from Catullus onwards,[2][3][7] who uses it in his abusive poems, as of a man whose rear is “cleaner than a salt cellar”.[6][4]

Semantic evolution

It was an obscene word for the anus and buttocks,[5][8] found in Catullus, Martial, the Priapea and graffiti, and on the lead sling bullets of the siege of Perusia.[6] Georges also cites it in Cicero's speech against Piso.[8]

Medieval writers used it in medicine for the anus and more widely for the buttocks.[9] It survives in every Romance language, as French cul and Italian culo,[7] and through Old French reculer “to go back” it is the source of English recoil.[10]

Timeline

  • 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus uses it in invective.[2][3]
  • 40–102/103 AD – Martial uses it often.[4][3]
  • c. 1200 – Through French reculer it gives English recoil.[10]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (vulgar) The anus, the backside, buttocks.[5][4]

Word family

  • cūlō
  • English recoil
  • English cul-de-sac

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  3. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  4. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  7. ^ a b Buchi, Éva; Schweickard, Wolfgang, eds. (2008–), Dictionnaire Étymologique Roman (DÉRom), Nancy: ATILF, http://www.atilf.fr/DERom
  8. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  9. ^ Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
Cite this entry

“Culus.” Etymologically, 10 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/culus. Accessed 10 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on .