A) Clitoris.
Realdo Colombo (a relative of Christopher Columbos I think) in the 16th century claims to be first to have discovered it, but I’d recon one or two had know of ifs existence some times before that? – even though most men apparently still has only a somewhat foggy notion of what and where it is.
The word clitoris is a new greek/latin addition to European languages from the seventeen century. But surely there must have existed a word to describe this, to some essential, part of the human anatomy before that? Or what? Is it known what it was called before “clitoris” was used? Bablefish gives the same name in English, Dutch, German, Greek, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and it’s called clitoris in Danish too. That the same word has managed to enter all the larger European languages seem to indicate there was no prior word. And the word “clitoris” is a new invention in Greece too – it wasn’t used in classical Greek.
Other words to describe bits of the female sex also seem surprisingly new inventions.
B) Toes.
The toes between the big toe and little toe, do they have individual names?
Yes. Their names are Meeny, Miney, and Moe. The big toe is affectionately known as Eeeny. The little toe is, of course, named ‘Cried All the Way Home.’
Don’t forget the one who went to market. And the one who had roast beef. And the one who had none. And the one who stayed home. Sheesh! If we can’t remember the classics, we’ll just lose 'em.
You know, I was expecting a completely different OP. I can also tell you that in Portuguese (at least Brazilian Portuguese) the slang terms: “pinguelo” and “grelo” are used more frequently than “clitoris”.
I would be very surprised if 99% of the female population of the world weren’t well aware of the clitoris long before Realdo Colombo claims to have found it, they just didn’t feel the need to shout about it from the rooftops
A) The clitoris was discovered by its owner within a few years of its invention. Until recently women have refused to discuss it in any detail with men. This is because they knew that if we had a good understanding of its precise location and operation we wouldn’t try as hard. Sneaky, eh?
Christopher Columbus set out to discover India by going the long way around, but on the way, he ran into America by mistake, then claimed to have discovered it (when in fact there were people right there who were already quite familiar with it).
A little known fact is that Realdo Columbo actually set out to discover the anus, by going the long way around… (fill in the blanks).
Pretty sure the toe in the middle is called the middle toe - if it isn’t, we should start calling it that right away. The other two toes… do they need names? I mean, if you call them the second and fourth, there’s the possibility that someone might start counting from the wrong end. It’s probably easier to point and say ‘that one there’.
From looking at websites selling toerings it seems the convention is to name the toes: big toe, index toe, middle toe, fourth toe, pinkie (or little) toe.
Whilst the toering industry isn’t known for creating naming standards I imagine if you stick to that system you won’t have any problems describing a particular digit to someone over the phone.
Just a WAG here, but perhaps the relative freshness of the word “clitoris” is due to the fact that, prior to recent times (in at least Western culture), women weren’t supposed to be sexual themselves. Just objects for sex by men.
It would at least be interesting to see someone with better research skills than I look this up.
In the “Junior Mint” episode, Seinfeld could only remember his date’s name rhymes with a female body part, and only the last scene does he shout “Dolores”. The retelling of the story led to man getting fired and a lawsuit.
Suidas and Pollux were Greek lexicographers of the 10th and 2nd centuries respectively, while Rufus of Ephesus was writing c. 100 CE, so the modern name is itself quite old.
