Thursday, February 2, 2012

Catullus' Poem XXXVII

Oh the grammatical irony of the gender of the word "mentula"... Not sure how to gauge this poem is it sarcastic or is he just trying to be funny?...

1 comment:

  1. I don't know either, Tonius. But don't forget that some words in Latin look feminine but are really masculine (e.g. poeta). While "mentula" is in fact feminine as opposed to looking feminine but really being masculine, maybe this was just one of those weird things we who don't use genders don't get; maybe the Romans didn't get it either. I read somewhere that the French word "chicken" is masculine. While the word for the defining characteristic of a man is feminine, I can only offer you advice and other examples of odd gender logic. Sorry.

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