From: Piotr Gasiorowski
Message: 17148
Date: 2002-12-12
----- Original Message -----
From: <alexmoeller@...>
To: <cybalist@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Thursday, December 12, 2002 7:18 PM
Subject: [tied] greek phallus
> which are the slavic cognates for the greek phallus?
> did latin have had a similar word or was the latin one derived from
> another root?
There is no Slavic cognate that I know of. Latin pe:nis < *pes-ni- is usually assumed to be related to Gk. peos and Skt. pasas- (*pés-es-). The ordinary 'cock' word in colloquial Latin was <mentula> (prudishly ignored by some Latin dictionaries), which I suppose was a dimunutive based on the *menth2- root we've just discussed in connection with churning and firesticks (the Prometheus thread).
Piotr