veretrum

Uncertain.^[1][2] Ostensibly from vereor (“to show respect, fear”) +‎ -trum (suffix forming instrumental nouns), from Proto-Indo-European *wer- (“to watch, cover; to heed, notice”); however, De Vaan (2008) is unconvinced by this etymology,^[1] and Adams (1990) considers the meaning unexpected for an instrumental derivative of this root.^[3] Attested from Varro onwards.^[1][3]

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈu̯e.re.trum/, [ˈu̯ɛrɛt̪rʊ̃ˑ] or IPA^(key): /u̯eˈret.rum/, [u̯ɛˈrɛt̪rʊ̃ˑ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈve.re.trum/, [ˈvɛːret̪rum] or IPA^(key): /veˈret.rum/, [veˈrɛt̪rum]

veretrum n (genitive veretrī); second declension

1. the external genitals (male or female), penis, vulva; the clitoris

   Synonyms: verenda, pudenda, genitālia, partēs, membra, nātūra

   • 116 BCE – 27 BCE, Marcus Terentius Varro, Menippeae 282:

     dein immittit virile veretrum

   • first century AD, Phaedrus, Fabulae Aesopiae 4.14, (iambic senarius):

     ā fi͞ctĭōnĕ vĕrĕtrī li͞ngua͞m mŭlĭĕris. / Affinitatem traxit inde obscenitas.

Although several sources (Isidore, De Vaan) cite this word as referring specifically to the male genitals, the 4-5th century physician Caelius Aurelianus uses it to refer to the female reproductive organ as a whole.^[4] This restriction would also make redundant the phrase virīle veretrum (in Varro).

Second-declension noun (neuter).

• veretilla

• “uerētrum” on page 2244 of the Oxford Latin Dictionary (2nd ed., 2012)
• “veretrum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “veretrum”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• veretrum in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• veretrum in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.