Mentula and verpa: The Penis
Mentula is the basic Latin word for penis. Its status as a basic obscenity is confirmed by the Priapeia 28, in which mentula and cunnus are given as ideal examples of obscene words:
- Obscenis, peream, Priape, si non
uti me pudet improbisque verbis
sed cum tu posito deus pudore
ostendas mihi coleos patentes
cum cunno mihi mentula est vocanda- ("I'd rather die than use obscene and improper words; but when you, Priapus, as a god, appear with your testicles hanging out, it is appropriate for me to speak of cunts and cocks.")
Verpa is also a basic Latin obscenity for "penis". It appears less frequently in Classical Latin, but it does appear in Catullus 47:
- vos Veraniolo meo et Fabullo
verpus praeposuit Priapus ille?- ("Did that dick, that Priapus, prefer you to my dear Veraniolus and Fabullus?")
Verpus, adjective and noun, referred to a man whose glans was exposed, either by an erection or by circumcision; thus Juvenal has
- Quaesitum ad fontem solos deducere verpos
- ("To guide only the circumcised to the fountain that they seek").
Read more about this topic: Latin Profanity