hey #medievaltwitter does anyone have any idea how early latin 'vagina' could function as an anatomical double entendre? etymology dictionaries have its entry into medical english as 1680 but that's not entirely helpful
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Although the usage is classical, and the medieval sources indicate it wasn't used as a double entendre but I would not be surprised if they were missing some sources there.
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Yeah, I saw that -- was hopeful someone would have written on something a bit more medieval. I'm not sure how familiar Plautus would've been to your average eleventh-century bishop!
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This cites only Plautus Pseudolus 1181 (in modern numbering). But the line there is addressed to a male character, so "vagina" must = "anus." And in context it's clearly an ad hoc metaphor, not a technical term.
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Adams's Latin Sexual Vocabulary has no other exx. of "vagina" in a sexual sense, and they would be there if they were to be found. Dictionary of Medieval Latin s.v. "vagina" does not record this sense either.
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