mentula

English

Alternative forms

• mentule

Etymology

From Latin mentula.

Noun

mentula (plural mentulas or mentulae or mentulæ)

1. A penis.
   • 1974, Guy Davenport, Tatlin!:

     He, watchman of gardens, keeps evil away with his mentula up, warding off blight and thieves, garlanded with figs and grapes.

Anagrams

• nu metal, nu-metal, nutmeal, nü-metal

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Latin

Etymology

Probably a diminutive of mens (“mind”) or menta (“mint stalk”). Other sources see it as coming ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *men-, cognate with emineō (“I project”) and mōns (“mountain”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈmen.tu.la/, [ˈmɛn̪t̪ʊɫ̪ä]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈmen.tu.la/, [ˈmɛn̪t̪ulä]

Noun

mentula f (genitive mentulae); first declension

1. (vulgar, anatomy) dick, cock (obscene word for the penis)
   • a. 54 BC, Catullus, Carmina, 29

     Ut ista vestra diffututa mentula

     ducenties comesset aut trecenties?

   • 86 CE – 103 CE, Martial, Epigrammata IX.33:

     Maronis illic esse mentulam scito.

     Know that Maro's cock is found there

Declension

First-declension noun

	singular	plural
nominative	mentula	mentulae
genitive	mentulae	mentulārum
dative	mentulae	mentulīs
accusative	mentulam	mentulās
ablative	mentulā	mentulīs
vocative	mentula	mentulae

Synonyms

• penis
• veretrum
• verpa

Related terms

• mentulātus

Descendants

• ⇒ Vulgar Latin: *mincla (see there for further descendants)
• → English: mentula
• → French: mentule

References

• “mentula”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “mentula”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• mentula in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.