# What's the original Anglo-Saxon word for "penis"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 25, 2003, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-original-anglo-saxon-word-for-penis/177458 "2003-05-25T21:43:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2019, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-original-anglo-saxon-word-for-penis/177458/21 "2019-08-09T16:12:22Z")
I don’t think [Etymonline.com](http://Etymonline.com) was around in 2003. Here’s a sampling of their histories. > [@](#): > > penis (n.) > 1670s, perhaps from French pénis or directly from Latin penis “penis,” earlier “tail,” from PIE \*pes- “penis” (source also of Sanskrit pasas-, Greek peos, posthe “penis,” probably also Old English fæsl “progeny, offspring,” Old Norse fösull, German Fasel “young of animals, brood”). The proper plural is penes. The adjective is penial. In psychological writing, penis envy is attested from 1924. > > cock (n.3) > > “penis,” 1610s, but compare pillicock “penis,” attested from early 14c. (as pilkoc, found in an Anglo-Irish manuscript known as “The Kildare Lyrics,” in a poem beginning “Elde makiþ me,” complaining of the effects of old age: Y ne mai no more of loue done; Mi pilkoc pisseþ on mi schone), also attested from 12c. as a surname (Johanne Pilecoc, 1199: Hugonem Pillok, 1256; there is also an Agnes Pillock). Also compare Middle English fide-cok “penis” (late 15c.), from fid “a peg or plug.” > > The male of the domestic fowl (along with the bull) has been associated in many lands since ancient times with male vigor and especially the membrum virile, but the exact connection is not clear (the cock actually has no penis) unless it be his role as fertilizer of the domestic hens, and there may be some influence from cock (n.2) in the “tap” sense… > > Cock-teaser, cock-sucker emerge into print in 1891 in Farmer & Henley. > > phallus (n.) > 1610s, “an image of the penis,” from Latin phallus, from Greek phallos “penis,” also “carving or image of an erect penis (symbolizing the generative power in nature) used in the cult of Dionysus,” from PIE \*bhel-no-, from root \*bhel- (2) “to blow, swell” (source also of Old Norse boli “bull,” Old English bulluc “little bull,” and possibly Greek phalle “whale”). Used of the penis itself (often in symbolic context) from 1924, originally in jargon of psychoanalysis. ---
**Author:** ![Cayuga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Cayuga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cayuga)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2019, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-original-anglo-saxon-word-for-penis/177458/22 "2019-08-11T15:54:14Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > In the UK also. I haven’t been in the UK in a while, but I’m thinking “cunt” is much more objectionable here than there. In the U.S., it’s within inches of being as forbidden as the N-word, and is generally referred to as “the C-word.” On the other hand, I recently watched an episode of _The Rook_ in which Olivia Munn, playing an American in London (I gather it’s a UK show) asks a colleague what happened to her boyfriend. Upon being told he was killed by the bad guys, she mutters, “Cunts,” under her breath. The script was clearly written by a Brit, as an American would never say this. She might go with “fuckers” or even “motherfuckers,” but in the U.S., “cunt” is solely a very insulting term for a woman, and “cunts” could only refer to a group of women … and, as I said, would be used only in the coarsest of company. ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2019, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-original-anglo-saxon-word-for-penis/177458/23 "2019-08-11T16:06:27Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > We now have the (ludicrous to me) euphemism “front bottom” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2024, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-original-anglo-saxon-word-for-penis/177458/24 "2024-09-02T17:52:21Z")
> [@Sunny\_Daze](#): > > People object to the word “cunt” (which is the word I believe you are mourning) because it became a derogatory term for women.\* The point is that the word didn’t fall out of use because “feminists”. It fell out of use because the meaning itself changed. > > \*In the US, it is very insulting. Other places less so. A “loop splice”, a way of joining the ends of two ropes so there’s an oval hole where they meet, was called a cunt splice in older sources. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2024, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-original-anglo-saxon-word-for-penis/177458/25 "2024-09-02T22:33:48Z")
Where have you seen evidence of that? I think a “loop splice” refers to what sailors call an eye splice, and what sailors call a cunt splice may be bowdlerized to “cut splice”. It’s not the same splice: an eye splice is a loop at the end of a rope. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2024, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-original-anglo-saxon-word-for-penis/177458/26 "2024-09-02T22:40:21Z")
The terminology seems to be applied inconsistently, but I was referring to this splice: [![](https://farm4.static.flickr.com/3262/5692138615_6ab7d7070d_o.gif) ](https://farm4.static.flickr.com/3262/5692138615_6ab7d7070d_o.gif) ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2024, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-original-anglo-saxon-word-for-penis/177458/27 "2024-09-02T22:42:59Z")
When I took Latin there was a picture of a Roman soldier with arrows pointing to and naming various parts of his gear. A sword was “gladius” of course. But what brought giggles was the word for the sheath the sword is placed in. That was “vagina” ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2024, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-original-anglo-saxon-word-for-penis/177458/28 "2024-09-03T02:56:12Z")
Sure; Ashley, for example, says it has been called it a “cut” splice, a “cont” splice, a “bight” splice, and an “anti-Galligan” splice (!). However, nowhere in his book does he mention anything known as a “loop splice”. Similarly, the cuntline of a rope is sometimes changed to contline, cantline, etc. ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2024, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-original-anglo-saxon-word-for-penis/177458/29 "2024-09-03T03:10:17Z")
> [@Cayuga](#): > > in the U.S., “cunt” is solely a very insulting term for a woman, and “cunts” could only refer to a group of women There is the (rare) pronunciation with a soft “C” that can refer to anything derogatory, i.e., “sunt”. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2024, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-original-anglo-saxon-word-for-penis/177458/30 "2024-09-03T13:36:19Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > Sure; Ashley, for example, says it has been called it a “cut” splice, a “cont” splice, a “bight” splice, and an “anti-Galligan” splice (!). However, nowhere in his book does he mention anything known as a “loop splice”. > > Similarly, the cuntline of a rope is sometimes changed to contline, cantline, etc. The _Oxford Dictionary of Ships and the Sea_ refers to the splice as a “cut splice” (rather than the older “cunt splice”) and uses “contline” in place of , as it says, the objectionable “cunting” ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2024, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-original-anglo-saxon-word-for-penis/177458/31 "2024-09-03T13:56:23Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > If you’re going to claim an English word came from Egyptian, then you’re going to have to explain _how_ it came from that language. I can see maybe an Egyptian word being used in the Bible, and spreading out through the Bible-reading world from there. I can see some distinctively Egyptian thing or concept being referred to by its native name. I can see a modern word being coined in the era of global media, by a person who happened to be Egyptian. But none of those would account for “cock”. Easy: Caesar and Mark Antony picked up the terms when they were dating Cleopatra and it spread from there! ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2024, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-original-anglo-saxon-word-for-penis/177458/32 "2024-09-03T22:43:03Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I can see maybe an Egyptian word being used in the Bible, and spreading out through the Bible-reading world from there. For the record, I decided to look up Egyptian loanwords in Hebrew, and while I found more than I expected, as far as I can tell none of them have migrated to English. ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2024, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-original-anglo-saxon-word-for-penis/177458/33 "2024-09-04T04:22:43Z")
This topic title made me think of the (already mentioned) term Shakespeare used in his play (Henry IV pt 1?), “Thou bull’s pizzle…!” ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2024, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-original-anglo-saxon-word-for-penis/177458/34 "2024-09-04T05:01:33Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > For the record, I decided to look up Egyptian loanwords in Hebrew, and while I found more than I expected, as far as I can tell none of them have migrated to English. _Pharoah_ comes to English from Hebrew via the Bible. The page cited upthread (20 years ago, but still up) says: > [@](#): > > Derives from _pharaô_, the Greek form in the Septuaginta of Hebrew _par’oh_, which is a loan of AE _pr-'3_ (par-'o, \*per-'a) (=“Great House”), originally the term for the palace, in the New Kingdom also used for the person residing there (i.e. the king). ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2024, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-original-anglo-saxon-word-for-penis/177458/35 "2024-09-04T05:51:45Z")
That is kind of interesting, because one word that _does_ more literally mean “great house” in the Bible is _heḵal_, but that was originally borrowed from Sumerian which is not a Semitic language at all. It exists in English as _haikal_ (central sanctuary of a Coptic church). ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2024, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-original-anglo-saxon-word-for-penis/177458/36 "2024-09-04T07:07:47Z")
Re Egyptian etymologies. There’s a theory that the word “cat” could be Egyptian in origin, or at least from some language in the Afro-Asiatic family that Ancient Egyptian belonged to. The word can be found in a similar form all over Europe (where its Vulgar Latin form _cattus_ superseded the classical _felis_), but also in non-Indo-European languages such as Arabic and Berber. Our domestic cat descends from the North African wildcat, so it is not implausible to assume that as the animal spread, so did the word for it. Cite: [cat | Etymology of cat by etymonline](https://www.etymonline.com/word/cat) ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2024, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-original-anglo-saxon-word-for-penis/177458/37 "2024-09-04T11:01:41Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > Just need to point out that I think it was Henry V where Shakespeare uses the expression “thou bull’s pizzle” as an insult. (At least in the unexpurgated versions) So that was common usage and I assume, nit so incredibly vulgar as to trigger the censors. Side note to a five-year-old post, but vulgarity generally _didn’t_ trigger the censors in Shakespeare’s day. They cared about blasphemy and religious or politically sensitive content, not sex. (The “bull’s pizzle” line from _1 Henry IV_ kinda _is_ pushing the envelope, but only because it is addressed to the Prince of Wales – who is OK with it – not because anybody objected to talk of pizzles in general.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-original-anglo-saxon-word-for-penis/177458.md?page=1)