culus

See also: -culus and cülus

Latin

Etymology

Uncertain, though most likely Related to Proto-Celtic *kūlos (“posterior”). The term is traditionally derived from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kewH-lo-s, from *(s)kewH- (“cover, conceal, hide, skin”). However, de Vaan, following the LIV, rejects the existence of this root, and prefers to reconstruct a Proto-Indo-European *kuH-lo-s, from *kewh₂- (“to strike, cleave”) (which he reconstructs as *keh₂w-; he also adduces Proto-Germanic *hūdiz (“skin, hide”) and Latin cutis (“skin”), both generally derived from *(s)kewH-, to *kewh₂-, and appears to implicitly consider *(s)kewH- a mis-reconstructed form of *kewh₂-.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈkuː.ɫʊs]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈkuː.lus]

Noun

cūlus m (genitive cūlī); second declension

1. (vulgar, anatomy) the arse, ass (the anus and buttocks together)

   in Orcī cūlum incidās ― may you fall into Orcus' butthole

   • c. 84 BCE – 54 BCE, Catullus, Carmina 97:

     Nōn—ita mē dĭ ament!—quicquam rēferre putāvī,
     utrumne ōs an cūlum olfacerem Aemiliō.

     I swear by the gods, I didn't think it mattered one bit,
     whether I sniffed Aemilius's mouth or his arse.

Declension

Second-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	cūlus	cūlī
genitive	cūlī	cūlōrum
dative	cūlō	cūlīs
accusative	cūlum	cūlōs
ablative	cūlō	cūlīs
vocative	cūle	cūlī

Synonyms

• ānus
• clūnis
• natis
• pōdex
• puga

Derived terms

• cūlō
• cūlōsus

Descendants

• Aragonese: culo
• Aromanian: cur
• Asturian: culu
• Catalan: cul
• Corsican: culu
• Dalmatian: čol
• French: cul, culotte (see there for further descendants)
  • ⇒ English: recoil
• Friulian: cûl
• Ido: kulo
• Istro-Romanian: cur
• Italian: culo
• Lombard: cüü
• Megleno-Romanian: cur
• Occitan: cuol
• Old Galician-Portuguese: cuu, cũu, cu
  • Fala: cu
  • Galician: cu
  • Portuguese: cu
• Old Spanish: culo
  • Ladino: kulo
  • Spanish: culo
• Romanian: cur
• Romansh: tgil, tgigl, chül
• Sardinian: colu, cu, culu
• Sicilian: culu
• Venetan: cuło, cul
• Walloon: cou

Further reading

• “culus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “culus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• "culus", in Charles du Fresne du Cange, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• “culus”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

Somali

Etymology

Unknown. Cognate with Maay ulus, Rendille h'ulees (“heaviness”), Jiiddu eslé, Baiso -'isil, Arbore ilsa, Daasanach ilish, Oromo ulfaataa, Konso ulsuma (“mass”), Afar qilsa, Saho cilis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʕùˈlús/

Adjective

culús (plural culculus, nominalized culays, factitive cuslee)

1. heavy
2. important

References

• “culus”, in Qaamuuska Af-Soomaaliga, 2012
• Reinisch, Leo (1902), Die Somali-Sprache (in German), volume 2, Wien, Austria, page 58