# What's a "Seminal Work"?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-seminal-work/503854>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [July 22, 2009, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-seminal-work/503854 "2009-07-22T13:45:18Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\
**Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-seminal-work/503854/1 "2009-07-22T13:45:18Z")

</div>

If you read album reviews, the writers refer to “Seminal Works”-do they mean that the artist was jacking off whe he/she wrote it?  
Or am I missing something?😕

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\
**Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-seminal-work/503854/2 "2009-07-22T13:53:07Z")

</div>

Well, the words have the same origin –

Seminal:

1. pertaining to, containing, or consisting of semen.
2. Botany. of or pertaining to seed.
3. having possibilities of future development.
4. highly original and influencing the development of future events: a seminal artist; seminal ideas.

ETA: That was from the Random House Dictionary.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Gordon\_Urquhart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/db5fbb/32.png) [@Gordon\_Urquhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gordon_Urquhart)\
**Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-seminal-work/503854/3 "2009-07-22T13:57:36Z")

</div>

> [@ralph124c](#):
>
> If you read album reviews, the writers refer to “Seminal Works”-do they mean that the artist was jacking off whe he/she wrote it?  
> Or am I missing something?😕

The word “seminal” does indeed derive from “semen,” which itself Latin for “seed.”

In this context, it means that the work is essential for truly appreciating the artist in question, whether the artist is a painter, writer, recording artist, or something else.

On preview, what \*\*Sigmagirl \*\*said.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\
**Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-seminal-work/503854/4 "2009-07-22T14:10:35Z")

</div>

There was a feminist mini-push at one time to substitute the word ‘germinal’ as a gender neutral equivalent. I don’t think it ever got much traction.

Seminal does cause me to giggle occasionally, if I think about it wrong at the right time.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\
**Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-seminal-work/503854/5 "2009-07-22T14:14:22Z")

</div>

_Deep Throat_ and _Debbie Does Dallas_ are seminal works of porn, since they helped give rise to the idea that a porno could have a story line.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\
**Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-seminal-work/503854/6 "2009-07-22T16:11:31Z")

</div>

Basically a seminal work is one that inspired a bunch of other future works. Or one that got ripped off a lot if you want to be more cynical.

For example, Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Murders in the Rue Morgue”, Bram Stoker’s _Dracula_, and William Gibson’s _Neuromancer_ were all seminal works. They essentially created the genres they were in.