"Cock" = rooster

[Joel S. Berson]

Is the derivation that clear?  (OED2 merely says "perhaps.")

And what do we say about Manneken Pis, which (according to Wikipedia
at least) probably dates to the 15th century?  Because both a cock
(faucet) and a cock (penis) can both pass water, therefore the latter
usage derives from the former?

Joel


At 7/4/2006 10:50 PM, you wrote:
>Charlie, the derivation is from the "cock" that means "faucet," now
>obsolescent, if not fully obsolete, except in a few words such as
>"petcock" and "stopcock." The basis of my claim is this.
>
>About a quarter-century ago, I was paging through a book on homosexual
>symbolism in art. Among the examples provided by the author(s?) was an
>engraving of a small group of naked men in a large, indoor, public
>bath. They were gathered together at one end of the pool. The
>perspective was such that, at first glance, it appeared that some of
>the men had their hands on the  flaccid, dripping penes / penises of
>the other men, who were hung like horses. However, at second glance,
>it was clear that the men were merely standing around the cocks
>(faucets) used to fill the pool and some of them just happened to be
>resting their hands on the said cocks (faucets), whose shape
>coincidently and conveniently happened to be like unto that of a
>flaccid penis.
>
>That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
>
>-Wilson
>
>On 7/4/06, Charles Doyle <cdoyle at uga.edu> wrote:
>>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>-----------------------
>>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>Poster:       Charles Doyle <cdoyle at UGA.EDU>
>>Subject:      Re: "Cock" = rooster
>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>Not to flog a dead dolphin here, but let me reiterate:
>>
>>The question was not whether a male chicken
>>SYMBOLIZES "sexuality" (in many instances, literary,
>>subliterary, and iconographic, it obviously has). Rather it
>>was whether 'penis' was a denotative meaing of the
>>WORD "cock" at certain points in history--a very different
>>(though obviously not unrelated) matter.
>>
>>--Charlie
>>_______________________________________
>>
>>---- Original message ----
>> >Date: Mon, 3 Jul 2006 20:05:16 -0400
>> >From: Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
>> >Subject: "Cock" = rooster
>> >To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>> >
>> >---------------------- Information from the mail header ----
>>-------------------
>> >Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-
>>L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> >Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
>> >Subject:      "Cock" = rooster
>> >------------------------------------------------------------
>>-------------------
>> >
>> >Alison writes:
>> >
>> >On the Cock thread, no-one who has ever kept chickens could
>>be in any doubt about the appropriateness of considering a
>>cock to be a symbol of sexuality.  Roosters whole existence
>>seems to be wholly given over to strutting, bragging and
>>chasing hens.]
>> >
>> >Not to mention abusing them. When a rooster is through with
>>a hen, he will strike her with his spurs, if she doesn't get
>>out of his way quickly enough.
>> >
>> >-Wilson
>>
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>
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