veretrum

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Latin

Etymology

Uncertain.[1][2] Ostensibly from vereor (“to show respect, fear”) +‎ -trum (suffix forming instrumental nouns), from Proto-Indo-European *wer- (“to watch, cover; to heed, notice”); however, De Vaan (2008) is unconvinced by this etymology,[1] and Adams (1990) considers the meaning unexpected for an instrumental derivative of this root.[3] Attested from Varro onwards.[1][3]

Pronunciation

Noun

veretrum n (genitive veretrī); second declension

  1. the external genitals (male or female), penis, vulva; the clitoris
    Synonyms: verenda, pudenda, genitālia, partēs, membra, nātūra
    • 116 BCE – 27 BCE, Marcus Terentius Varro, Menippeae 282:
      dein immittit virile veretrum
    • first century AD, Phaedrus, Fabulae Aesopiae 4.14, (iambic senarius):
      ā fi͞ctĭōnĕ vĕrĕtrī li͞ngua͞m mŭlĭĕris. / Affinitatem traxit inde obscenitas.

Usage notes

Although several sources (Isidore, De Vaan) cite this word as referring specifically to the male genitals, the 4-5th century physician Caelius Aurelianus uses it to refer to the female reproductive organ as a whole.[4] This restriction would also make redundant the phrase virīle veretrum (in Varro).

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

singular plural
nominative veretrum veretra
genitive veretrī veretrōrum
dative veretrō veretrīs
accusative veretrum veretra
ablative veretrō veretrīs
vocative veretrum veretra

Derived terms

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “vereor”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 665
  2. ^ Ranjan Sen (2015) Syllable and Segment in Latin, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, pages 98-99
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Adams, J.N. (1990) The Latin Sexual Vocabulary, JHU Press, →ISBN, page 52
  4. ^ “Caelius Aurelianus, Gynaeciorum Sorani e graeco versorum et retractatorum quae exstant, 1, p6, ”, in www.mlat.uzh.ch: Corpus Corporum‎, 2021 May 2 (last accessed), archived from the original on 2 May 2021

Further reading

  • “uerētrum” on page 2244 of the Oxford Latin Dictionary (2nd ed., 2012)
  • “veretrum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • “veretrum”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • veretrum in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
  • veretrum in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
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