penis

Forms

penis n (plural penisuri)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French pénis, with Latin pēnis as a second source.^[2][3][4][5] Wiktionary describes it as a learned borrowing from Latin alone.^[1] French borrowed the Latin word in 1618; in Latin it first meant “tail” and was also used of the male member, a rare word of popular speech avoided because of its sense.^[6]

The Latin word meant both “tail” and “penis”.^[7] It is usually traced to Proto-Indo-European *pes-ni- (“penis”), beside Ancient Greek πέος (péos); de Vaan thinks that “tail” was the original sense and “penis” a metaphor.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2's first record is from the Enciclopedia română of 1898, in the anatomical sense.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Unlike the Latin word, it belongs to the technical vocabulary of anatomy, as in French.^[6][4] The DLR labels it anatomical and notes that it is used mostly of people; its records come from the encyclopedia, veterinary texts and the dictionaries of neologisms.^[4]

Timeline

• 1618 – French pénis borrowed from Latin.^[6]
• 1898 – penis in the Enciclopedia română, the first record in Romanian.^[2]
• 1986 – listed in the dictionary of neologisms, with falus as a synonym.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. (anatomy) The penis: the external male organ of copulation and urination in humans and some animals.^[3][2][1]

Related words

• falus

Usage notes

The plural is penisuri.^[3] Slang has many euphemisms for it, among them banană, ciocan and cârnat.^[9]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 337
3. ^ a b c DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 798
4. ^ a b c Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. penis
5. ^ Marcu, Florin (2000), Marele dicționar de neologisme, București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. penis
6. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ Marcu, Florin; Maneca, Constant (1986), Dicționar de neologisme, 3rd ed., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. penis
9. ^ Volceanov, George (2007), Dicționar de argou al limbii române, București: Niculescu, p. s.v. penis