mutunium

Latin

Alternative forms

  • mutūnius
  • muthūnium
  • muttōnium
  • mutīnium

Etymology

Probably from mūtō (“penis”) +‎ -ium; compare pecūlium (used with a sexual sense in Plautus and Petronius). The derived adjective mutūniātus scans with a short first syllable; Weiss (1996) proposes that this is a case of a geminate being shortened after an unaccented vowel, as seen in sacellus for saccellus[1] (compare mamilla from mamma). The reason for the variation in the vowel in the second syllable is unclear.[2] Weiss proposes the following origin for forms with ū in this family of words: initially, the root was combined with the suffix -īnus, forming an adjective mū̆tīnus. After becoming used as the name of a god, Mutunus Tutunus, the form Mū̆tīnus was altered to Mū̆tūnus under the influence of other deity names ending in -ūnus, such as Neptūnus and Portūnus, and then the ū in the second syllable of Mū̆tūnus served as the basis of ū in the second syllable of forms like mū̆tūnium and mutūniātus.[1]

Pronunciation

Noun

mutūnium n (genitive mutūniī or mutūnī); second declension

  1. (vulgar) penis
    • before 79 AD, C.I.L 4.1939, (graffiti inscribed in the basilica of Pompeii):[3][4][5][6][7][8]
      [pumpeis] fueere·quondam·uibii·opulentissumi
      non·ideo·tenuerunt·in manu·sceptrum pro mutunió
      itidem quod·tu·factitas·cottidie·in manu penem tenes
      [in Pompeii?] there once were the very wealthy Vibii,
      They did not hold in their hands a scepter for a member(?)
      in the way that you frequently do every day holding your penis in your hand.
    • before 79 AD, C.I.L 4.1940, (Pompeiian graffiti):[3][9]
      muthunium
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)
    • c. 1st century CE, Carmina Priapea 72, (uncertain meter; some manuscripts have 'mutino'):[10]
      Tūtēlam pōmārī, dīlĭgēns Prĭāpĕ, făcĭtō:
      rū̆brī̆cātō fūrĭbus mĭnārĕ mutinio.
      Careful Priapus, keep watch of the orchard:
      threaten thieves with red(-painted) penis.

Usage notes

  • The meaning in C.I.L 4.1939 is disputed by Milnor 2014, who argues that the punchline of the joke at "...penem tenes" would be weakened if "mutunió" in the preceding line was a vulgar term for the penis, and suggests it might here be a proper name, "on behalf of Mutunius". The first word of this inscription is damaged (thought to be deliberately erased) and its reading is uncertain.
  • The spelling muttōnium has been attributed to Gaius Lucilius[11] based on a Latin-Greek gloss where it is glossed as προβασκαντον λουκιος (probaskanton loukios)[12] assumed to mean προβασκάνιον (probaskánion, “amulet”)[13] Λουκιλιος (Loukilios); compare fascinum for the phenomenon of phallic-shaped amulets.

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

singular plural
nominative mutūnium mutūnia
genitive mutūniī
mutūnī1 		mutūniōrum
dative mutūniō mutūniīs
accusative mutūnium mutūnia
ablative mutūniō mutūniīs
vocative mutūnium mutūnia

1Found in older Latin (until the Augustan Age).

Derived terms

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Weiss, Michael (1996), “Greek μυρίος 'countless', Hittite mūri- 'bunch (of fruit)'”, in Historische Sprachforschung / Historical Linguistics, volume 109, number 2, page 208
  2. ^ Adams, J.N. (2007), The regional diversification of Latin, 200 BC-AD 600, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 76
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 https://arachne.dainst.org/entity/2186330
  4. ^ Franklin, James L. (2001), Pompeis Difficile Est: Studies in the Political Life of Imperial Pompeii, The University of Michegan Press, page 193
  5. ^ Milnor, Kristina (2014), Graffiti and the Literary Landscape in Roman Pompeii, Oxford University Press, page 125
  6. ^ Varone, Antonio (2002) [1994], Ria P. Berg, revised by David Harwood and Roger Ling, transl., Erotica Pompeiana: Love Inscriptions on the Walls of Pompeii, translation of Erotica Pompeiana: Iscrizioni d'amore sui muri di Pompei, page 93
  7. ^ Rosén, Haiim B. (1992), “'Having' in Petronius”, in Pegasus Devocatus, Leuven University Press, page 114
  8. ^ Keegan, Peter (2011), “Blogging Rome: Graffiti as Speech-Act and Cultural Discourse”, in J.A. Baird and Claire Taylor, editors, Ancient Graffiti in Context, Routledge, page 174
  9. ^ Varone, Antonio (2002) [1994], Ria P. Berg, revised by David Harwood and Roger Ling, transl., Erotica Pompeiana: Love Inscriptions on the Walls of Pompeii, translation of Erotica Pompeiana: Iscrizioni d'amore sui muri di Pompei, page 90
  10. ^ Codoñer, Carmen; González Iglesias, Juan Antonio (2014), Priapea, page 290
  11. ^ Adams, J.N. (1990), The Latin Sexual Vocabulary, JHU Press, →ISBN, page 63: “the derivative mutonium, which Lucilius also uses (959)”
  12. ^ Marx, Friedrich (1904), C. Lucilii Carminum reliquiae, page 65: “muttonium”
  13. ^ https://publikationen.badw.de/en/cglo/index#38429

Further reading

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