[Ads-l] worm

[Laurence Horn]

> On Aug 9, 2015, at 4:25 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> 
> On Sun, Aug 9, 2015 at 2:14 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> 
>> Early
> 
> 
> The devil you say! First I've heard of this use of "worm." Since ca. 1600
> in *print*?! Whoa! What cave have I been living in?
> 
Well, there have been regular cites from the umliterature of e.g. "python", "snake", and "eel", often with the clarifying epithet "one-eyed", so "worm" (or perhaps one-eyed worm) seems plausible enough (if a bit less complimentary).  This afternoon, for a paper I'm writing on taboo, I was reading a paper from 1956--

Messing, Gordon. 1956. The etymology of Lat. _mentula_. Classical Philology 51: 247-49.

--that carefully examined, before ultimately rejecting, the argument for deriving the usual Latin moniker for "membrum virile", viz. _mentula_, from _menta_, the word for 'mint' (weakly supported by the supposed aphrodisiacal properties of that herb).  Seems like a word for 'worm' would have led to a shorter route to that membrum than one for 'mint'.  


LH

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