An early (so to speak) and unmistakable "cock" = penis

[Laurence Horn]

At 11:43 AM -0500 1/24/08, Joel S. Berson wrote:
>I find now that there is also a 1663 "cock" = penis, redacted ("in a
>contemporary hand") in a Suffolk County, Massachusetts, court
>record.  And (from the same secondary source, but other court cases)
>"cunny" = cunt, 1663; knock (n) = vagina, 1664; and "knock (v) =
>copulate with, 1681.
>
>(These were sent to Jesse via email in August 2006.)
>

Farmer & Henley have cites for "knock" (v) 'to copulate' and "knock"
(n) ' the penis' [but not 'vagina'] going back to 1560.  They trace
"cock" to Henry V, II.i (1600), but Shakespeare's use seems doubtful
to me with the relevant sense.  Their first unambiguous example for
"cock" = 'penis' is Beaumont & Fletcher 1647.  I don't find a bare
"cunny" there, as it were, alongside their "cunny-haunted",
"cunny-thumbed", and "cunnilingist" [sic].  Not to mention
"cunt-pensioner" (= 'a male keep').

LH

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