Etymologically
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cunnus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈkʊn.nʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈkun.nus][1]

Forms

cunnus m (genitive cunnī); second declension[1] Inscriptions spell it cunus.[2][3]

Etymology

The origin is not certain: the OLD marks it as doubtful and the TLL as unknown.[2][3] According to de Vaan it is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *kut-no- (“scrotum, vagina”), from a root *kut- (“bag”) that also came to mean the scrotum and, by metaphor, the female parts; following Leumann he suggests that it is an old n-stem turned into an o-stem, like the Germanic word for the testicles.[4] Köbler connects it with Proto-Indo-European *skeut- (“to cover, wrap”).[5] Other proposals link it with cutis (“skin”) or with cuneus (“wedge”).[1]

Cognate, according to de Vaan, with Welsh cwd (“bag, scrotum”), Ancient Greek κυσός (kusós, “vagina, buttocks, bladder”), Lithuanian kutỹs (“money bag”) and Old High German hodo (“testicles”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Catullus,[4][5] who uses it of a she-mule.[6][7]

Semantic evolution

It is the vulgar word for the female genitals,[2][1] found in Horace's satires, the Priapea and Martial.[6][7] By metonymy it stood for an unchaste woman,[6][7] and Martial uses it of loaves of obscene shape.[2][7]

British medieval Latin kept the old sense, and a 15th-century word list glosses it with the English word.[8] By confusion with cunīculus it was also used for a mine or underground passage.[8]

Timeline

  • 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus uses it of a she-mule.[6][5]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace uses it in the Satires, also of a woman.[6][5]
  • 40–102/103 AD – Martial uses it of loaves of obscene shape.[2][5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (vulgar) The female genitals, vulva.[2][6]
  2. (vulgar) An unchaste woman.[6][7]
  3. A loaf of obscene shape.[2][7]
  4. (Medieval Latin) A mine, underground passage.[8]

Word family

  • cunnilingus
  • cunniō

Usage notes

Cicero says that it was avoided as an obscene word, in the Orator and in one of his letters.[6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c d e f Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  8. ^ a b c Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press