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Post by malacophile on Feb 9, 2013 23:21:42 GMT
I find myself frequently interested in the seemingly Latin roots of many words, and I was wondering what "sarcobelum", the scientific word for a slug or snail penis, meant. Breaking it up, it consists of "sarco-" meaning flesh and "bellum" meaning war. I find this rather interesting. Why "flesh war" or perhaps "flesh of war"? There must be a looser translation, but I can't find it anywhere. Any ideas? The word seems to fit, interestingly, with the widespread cultural affiliation with the penis as an instrument of violence, domination and power. Edit: Perhaps it could loosely mean "meat sword"?  |
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Post by pinkunicorn on Feb 10, 2013 18:44:48 GMT
Well certain slugs use their penises as weapons before mating. Perhaps it's based on this observation?
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Post by brunni on Feb 11, 2013 18:53:19 GMT
"Sarco" is Greek, the interpretation is correct.
or sarc- pref.
Flesh: sarcophagic.
Striated muscle: sarcolemma.
[Greek sarko-, from sarx, sark-, flesh.]
"belum" has 2 meanings in Latin and is also a municipality in Lower Saxony, Germany
bellum, belli N N [XWXAO]
war, warfare; battle, combat, fight; (at/in) (the) war(s); military force, arms
bellus, bella -um, bellior -or -us, bellissimus -a -um ADJ [XXXBO]
pretty, handsome, charming, pleasant, agreeable, polite; nice, fine, excellent.
Often when reading the description of a species, you will find the author states why he has it so named.
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