PIE words for sexual organs

petegray petegray at btinternet.com
Thu Jan 20 20:00:03 UTC 2000


Rick Mc Callister asked:
> How 'bout a form ancestral to English "balls",

Pokorny is interesting here (p121, under the entry bhel-, bhle:, to blow up,
swell up).  He refers to 'Hess. bille "penis" middle low German (ars-)bille,
Dutch bil, old high German arsbelli (buttocks); and Anglo-saxon bealluc
(testicles) < *bhol-n.'  He includes Greek phallos "penis".

"Bollocks" is interesting - it shows the older diminutive suffix found in
hillock, bullock, buttock.

Peter



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