From jfgannon@cloud9.net Fri Jan 22 11:10:05 1999
Received: from mxu1.u.washington.edu (mxu1.u.washington.edu [140.142.32.8])
	by lists.u.washington.edu (8.9.1+UW98.09/8.9.1+UW98.09) with ESMTP id LAA04842
	for <classics@lists.u.washington.edu>; Fri, 22 Jan 1999 11:10:01 -0800
Received: from russian-caravan.cloud9.net (russian-caravan.cloud9.net [168.100.1.4])
	by mxu1.u.washington.edu (8.9.2+UW99.01/8.9.2+UW99.01) with ESMTP id LAA31776
	for <classics@u.washington.edu>; Fri, 22 Jan 1999 11:09:45 -0800 (PST)
Received: from default (jfgannon.dialup.cloud9.net [168.100.203.180])
	by russian-caravan.cloud9.net (Postfix) with SMTP for <classics@u.washington.edu>
	id C12FB763A8; Fri, 22 Jan 1999 14:09:43 -0500 (EST)
Message-ID: <36A8CCE4.2734@cloud9.net>
Date: Fri, 22 Jan 1999 14:09:24 -0500
From: "J.F. Gannon" <jfgannon@cloud9.net>
X-Mailer: Mozilla 3.0 (Win95; U)
MIME-Version: 1.0
To: classics@u.washington.edu
Subject: Re: Genital Gender
References: <Pine.GSO.4.05.9901212140110.23154-100000@xena.acsu.buffalo.edu>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

Leo C Curran wrote:
> 
> The passage quoted below is from another list. I once came across an
> obscene Latin poem that purports to explain this gender anomaly, but I can
> no longer locate it. I assumed it was in the Priapea, but it is not. Does
> anyone know the source?
> 
> 
> > >> Quibus dictis, necessene est passerem vere masculinum esse? In colore
> >
> > >> et forma simillimus pudendorum femininorum passer est.  "Lesbia"
> > >> quoque nomen infamum est.  Lesbia potuerat masturbari.
> >
> > Memento, sis, nomina Latina pudendorum tam femininorum quam masculinorum
> > saepenumero altero genere esse: cunnus enim quamquam feminae est, tamen
> > generis masculini est, mentula rursus persuasionis femininae est.

I don't know the origin, but the use of 'infamum' for 'infame' and of
'persuasionis' in the sense of 'generis' suggests a modern author
indifferent to classical diction.

J.F. Gannon
.