culus Latin · revision 678

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (Classical): [ˈkuː.ɫʊs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈkuː.lus]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''cūlus''' ''m'' (genitive cūlī); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It goes back to [[itc-pro|*kūlo-|t=back]], from [[ine-pro|*kuH-lo-|t=backside, rear]].^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary) 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 [[ine-pro|*keh₂u-|t=to cleave]], the root he also sees in [[cauda]] “tail”.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary)^(Köbler 2010) Older dictionaries compared [[grc|κοῖλος|tr=koîlos|t=hollow]].^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ Cognate with [[sga|cúl|t=back]], [[cy|cil|t=corner, recess]] and [[oco|chil]].^(de Vaan 2008)^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is attested from Catullus onwards,^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010)^(DÉRom) who uses it in his abusive poems, as of a man whose rear is “cleaner than a salt cellar”.^(TLL)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It was an obscene word for the [[m|en|anus]] and buttocks,^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913) found in Catullus, Martial, the ''Priapea'' and graffiti, and on the lead sling bullets of the siege of Perusia.^(TLL) Georges also cites it in Cicero's speech against Piso.^(Georges 1913)

+

+ Medieval writers used it in medicine for the anus and more widely for the buttocks.^(MLW) It survives in every Romance language, as French ''cul'' and Italian ''culo'',^(DÉRom) and through Old French ''reculer'' “to go back” it is the source of [[en|recoil]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus uses it in invective.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 40–102/103 AD – Martial uses it often.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 1200 – Through French ''reculer'' it gives [[en|recoil]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(vulgar)'' The [[m|en|anus]], the backside, [[m|en|buttocks]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

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+ ==Word family==

+ * [[cūlō]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[en|recoil]]

+ * [[en|cul-de-sac]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}