cunnus
Latin
Etymology
Uncertain. Various theories include:
- Proto-Indo-European *gʷḗn (“woman”), whence it would be cognate with Mycenaean Greek 𐀓𐀙𐀊 (ku-na-ja), Old English cwene, Proto-Slavic *žena, Sanskrit जनि (jani);
- Proto-Indo-European *kutnos (“cover”), cognate with cutis (“skin”). The metaphor is identical to the one connecting Latin vulva and English hull, albeit from a different Indo-European root.
- A relationship to Latin cuneus (“wedge”).
- From Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to cut”), evolved from an original sense of “gash”, “slit”.
Pronunciation
- (Classical Latin) IPA(key): /ˈkun.nus/, [ˈkʊnːʊs̠]
- (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /ˈkun.nus/, [ˈkunːus]
Noun
cunnus m (genitive cunnī); second declension
- woman
- 40/41 CE, Horatius, Sermones, I, 3:
- nam fuit ante Helenam cunnus taeterrima belli
causa, sed ignotis perierunt mortibus illi,
quos venerem incertam rapientis more ferarum
viribus editior caedebat ut in grege taurus.- (please add an English translation of this quotation)
- (vulgar) cunt, cunny (obscene word for the vulva)
- (vulgar) female genitalia, pubic hair
Declension
Second-declension noun.
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | cunnus | cunnī |
| Genitive | cunnī | cunnōrum |
| Dative | cunnō | cunnīs |
| Accusative | cunnum | cunnōs |
| Ablative | cunnō | cunnīs |
| Vocative | cunne | cunnī |
Descendants
See also
- cūlus (“anus, arse”)
- cūnae (“cradle, nest for young birds”)
- cuneus (“wedge”)
- cunīculus (“rabbit”)
- cunnilingus (“cuntlicker”)
References
- “cunnus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “cunnus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers