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Finding the clitoris (in dictionaries and books)

Between the years of 1712 and 1721, the London-born priest Rafael Bluteau [1638-1734] created one of the most important dictionaries in Portuguese history, the Portuguese and Latin Vocabulary, roughly translated. This Vocabulary was corrected and enlarged by Rafael Bluteau himself, with the publication of a two tome Supplement in 1727 and 1728.

Later, a Brazilian lexicologist by the name of António de Morais Silva [1755-1824] amplified and renovated the Vocabulary created by Rafael Bluteau, changing its name to the simple form Dictionary of the Portuguese Language. António de Morais Silva published this Dictionary during the years of 1789 and 1823, although the Dictionary remained attributed to António de Morais Silva until the tenth edition, dated from the years 1949 to 1959.

Both Bluteau’s Vocabulary and Morais Silva’s Dictionary are often used by researchers of the Portuguese Early Modern Period to understand passages in literary and historical works. One of these days, during one of my usual long afternoon sessions of enclosure in the library, I was searching for a word in Morais Silva’s Dictionary to help me understand a sixteenth-century Portuguese literary text. By random luck, I stumbled upon the word clitoris.

In Morais Silva’s Dictionary, clitoris is described as «noun, masculine. Organ of venereal pleasure in women. Sanctucci Anat.».

This got me curious: did the Vocabulary, created by a priest, had such a definition? In the eight tomes of his Vocabulary, Rafael Bluteau does not register the word.

But, in the first part of Bluteau's Supplement, the word clitoris appears, with a strange definition: «Clitoris – The fables say that Clitoris, daughter of one Myrmidon, was so beautiful that Jupiter fell in love with her, but [Clitoris was] also so small that, to enjoy her, Jupiter was obliged to transform into ant».

I tried to search for any Clitoris, daughter or Myrmidon, in Pierre Grimal’s famous Dictionary of Greek and Roman Mythology, but was unable to find anything about her. The Wikipedia entry for Myrmidon shows that, according to the book De astronomia, supposedly written by one «Hyginus», Myrmidon only had two daughters: Eupolomeia and Hiscilla.

As for the definition provided by António de Morais Silva about the word clitoris, Morais Silva references a book by the Tuscany-born medic Bernardo Santucci [c. 1701-1764], the Anatomy of the Human Body, published in 1739, in Portugal. This book was written by Santucci while he was working for the Portuguese king João V [1689-1750], with the intention of helping the apprentice surgeons.

In Santucci’s Anatomy of the Human Body, beyond various figures, one can find explanations of the different parts of the human body. In his description of the female reproductive system, Santucci eventually says: «In the superior part of the pudendal [parts] is the clitoris, which is a plump body, that in greatness and figure is like the extreme part of a child’s little finger, its substance is spongy and very similar to the virile member».

First, one important thing is of note: from Santucci’s Anatomy to Morais Silva’s Dictionary there was a change in grammatic gender of the word clitoris. In Santucci’s Anatomy the word is considered to be of feminine grammatic gender, while in Morais Silva’s Dictionary the word becomes of masculine grammatic gender, just as it is today.

Secondly, Santucci’s Anatomy does not explain the sexual function of the clitoris.

However, Santucci does explain later in his book: «These nymphs and the clitoris, and the sheaths’ wrinkles have other uses, which can be seen in the Latin Authors, such as Mauricean, and in Graaf».

Mauricean is a reference to the French doctor François Mauriceau [1637-1709], who is considered to be one of the first persons to make obstetrics a speciality, and who wrote books focused on female health both in Latin and in French.

Mauriceau's The Diseases of Pregnant and Parturient Women [French = Les Maladies des Femmes grosses et accouchées], published for the first time in 1668, says about the clitoris: «One notices in its most elevated part, exactly beside the urine conduit, one small plump part, called by Fallope [Gabriele Fallopio, 1522/23-1562], clitoris. Columbus [Matteo Realdo Colombo, c. 1515-1559] names this clitoris, to who the first discovery is attributed, “amor dulcedo Veneris” which means the love or the sweetness of Venus, because it is there [= in the clitoris] (just as he [= Colombo] says very well) the principal place of venereal pleasure and appetite in women; and they feel there such a big voluptuousness, that if one gently tickles that small part when they were a long time without using of the coitus, they are easily excited to discharge their seed, this is what several often do themselves, or reciprocally one to the other, to relieve themselves a bit of love’s rage» [sorry for any mistakes, my French is not the best and English is not my mother tongue…]

I have some questions for you:

Why do you think the word clitoris changed its grammatical gender in Portuguese?

For my friends who study the Classical Antiquity, do you know of any mythological woman named Clitoris, daughter of Myrmidon, like Rafael Bluteau describes?

It’s funny to me that François Mauriceau’s book describes lesbian relations as «a way to relieve love’s rage». Do you think that it is just an «oopsie, I am too naïve» moment by Mauriceau, or do you think this is the classical process of erasing homosexual and non-binary sexual/gender practices?

I would love to know your opinions so don’t be afraid to shared them, it does not matter if you are an academic or not! And please add any other thoughts or questions!

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Thought Provoking Books & Books That Have Important Voices! Pt. 19

181. Zhuan Falun by Li Hongzhi (Nonfiction/Philosophy/Spirituality/Qigong/Self-Cultivation/Enlightenment/Healing/Challenged Book)

182. Malinalli by Veronica Chapa (Fantasy/Historical Fiction/Mythology/Adult/Magical Realism/Indigenous/Southern Lit.)

183. Unsub by Meg Gardiner (Psychological Thriller/Mystery/Inspired by Zodiac Killer/Challenged Book/Personal Relationships)

184. Wake Up and Open Your Eyes by Clay McLeod Chapman (Social Horror/Political Satire/Identity/Perception/Division/Reality/Sexual Content/Unsettling but Thought Provoking/Morality)

185. The Sweet Revenge of Celia Door by Karen Finneyfrock (Banned Book/YA/Fiction/Contemporary/LGBT/Teen/Poetry/Coming of Age)

186. Crisis and Care: Queer Activist Responses to a Global Pandemic by Adrian Shanker (Radical Change/Modern History/Queer Activists/Health Equity/Prison Abolition/Racial Justice/Etc.)

187. The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo (YA/Novel in Verse/Identity/Religion/Sexuality/Teen Lead/Family Dynamics/Power of Words/Challenged Book)

188. All About Love by Bell Hooks (Nonfiction/Feminist Theory/Exploration of Love/Familial Love/Romantic Love/Societal Love/Love Myths/Self Love/Social Justice/Community)

189. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (Banned Book/Fiction/Historical Fiction/Redemption/Bildungsroman/Family/Friendship/Betrayal/Political Events/Guilt/Violence/SA)

190. On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century by Timothy Snyder (Nonfiction/Concept of Tyranny in Context of U.S. Politics)

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Go piss girl

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The Poet's Experience (2024)

Photo by @parked-stories

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I strongly recommend Judith Butler's Gender Trouble, even my cat tried to read it! 👀

[It's a Portuguese translation of Butler's book]

Transgender Books For Your Libraries

I have said this before, but right now requesting and reading queer books from your local library is important. I want to take a second to say there is a direct attack against the transgender community around the globe, and it's worth your time to request and read transgender books. So, here are some transgender books to request:

(Some links are affiliate links and the money goes to Making Queer History's research fund)

People Change, Vivek Shraya

Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity, Judith Butler

The Salt Grows Heavy, Cassandra Khaw

Transland: Consent, Kink, and Pleasure, MX Sly

Freshwater, Akwaeke Emezi

Amateur: A Reckoning with Gender, Identity, and Masculinity, Thomas Page McBee

The Subtweet, Vivek Shraya

Dark and Deepest Red, A. M. McLemore

A Psalm for the Wild-Built, Becky Chambers

Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars: A Dangerous Trans Girl's Fantabulous Memoir, Kai Cheng Thom

Dear Senthuran: A Black Spirit Memoir, Akwaeke Emezi

Dead Collections, Isaac Fellman

Disintegrate/Dissociate, Arielle Twist

Tell Me I'm Worthless, Alison Rumfitt

How to Be You: Stop Trying to Be Someone Else and Start Living Your Life, Jeffrey Marsh

A Lady for a Duke, Alexis Hall

Tomorrow Will Be Different: Love, Loss, and the Fight for Trans Equality, Sarah McBride

The Perks of Loving a Wallflower, Erica Ridley

I Hope We Choose Love: A Trans Girl's Notes from the End of the World, Kai Cheng Thom

We See Each Other: A Black, Trans Journey Through TV and Film, Tre'vell Anderson

Beyond the Gender Binary, Alok Vaid-Menon

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Thought Provoking Books & Books That Have Important Voices! Pt. 14

131. There There by Tommy Orange (Contemporary Literary Fiction/Urban Native Identity/Generational Trauma/Historical Trauma/Storytelling/Interconnectedness/Addiction/Mental Health Struggles/Identity & Authenticity)

132. Night by Elie Wiesel (Halocaust Literature/Loss of Faith in Face of Suffering/Dehumanization/Family Bonds/Survival Instinct)

132. The Shack by William P. Young (Fiction/Love/Relationships/Grief/The Nature of God/Forgiveness/Eternal Life)

133. Rules For Being a Girl by Candace Bushnell (YA/Coming of Age/Feminism/Sexism/Sexual Harrassment/Double Standards/Internalized Misogyny)

134. The Light We Lost by Jill Santopolo (Romance/Fiction/Contemporary/Chick Lit/Adult)

135. The Satanic Bible by Anton LaVey (Philosophical & Religious/Satan as a Symbol/Critique of Established Religion/Individualism/Rationalism & Science/Self-Indulgance)

136. The Circuit by Francisco Jiménez (Autobiographical Fiction/Coming of Age/Immigrant Struggles/Descrimination/Family Unity/Childhood Immigration Impact/The "Circuit" Concept)

137. The School for Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan (Dystopian Novel/Contemporary American Society/Expectations of Mothers/Intersectionality/"Perfect" Parenting Perils/Surveillance State)

138. Rule by Secrecy by Jim Marrs (Journalism/Conspiracy/Insight to Hidden History/Controversial)

139. The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom by Miguel Ruiz & Janet Mills (Toltec Wisdom/Transformative/Advice & Positivity/Personal Growth)

140. October Mourning by Lesléa Newman (Novel in Verse/Historical Fiction/Hate Crime/Loss/Impact of Violence/Compassion)

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Falas-me nos animais, a que nós brutos chamamos, que guardam leis naturais; nós outros não nas guardamos, a isso obrigados mais. Estes homens com quem tratam, não homens, mas leões bravos, por força tudo rematam; os leões não te resgatam, não te vendem por escravos.

Écloga Basto, de Francisco de Sá de Miranda [n. 1481-m. 1558]

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Little Roses 🌷 #amateurphotography #naturephotography #flowers

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A post shared by Márcia Rocha (@parkedstories)

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The curious vortex by Olafure Eliasson #amateurphotography #naturephotography #art #olafureliasson #thecuriousvortex

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A post shared by Márcia Rocha (@parkedstories)

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Study up, this WILL be on the test

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👉👈🥺

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