culus

See also: -culus

Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Italic *kūlos, from Proto-Indo-European *kuH-l-, zero-grade form of *(s)kewH- (“to cover”) without s-mobile.

Cognates include Old Irish cúl (“bottom”), Lithuanian kẽvalas (“skin, cover”). Related to cutis (“hide”).

Pronunciation

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

Noun

cūlus m (genitive cūlī); second declension

(vulgar, anatomy) The posterior, arse, ass, buttocks
- c. 84 BCE – 54 BCE, Catullus, Carmina 97, (translation adapted by H.J.Walker, which can be viewed here):
  Non (ita me di ament) quicquam referre putaui,
  utrumne os an culum olfacerem Aemilio.
  I swear by the gods, I didn't think it mattered one straw,
  whether I sniffed Aemilius's head or his arse.
(vulgar, anatomy) The anus

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

Derived terms

cūlō
cūlōsus

Descendants

Aragonese: culo
Aromanian: cur
Asturian: culu
Catalan: cul
Corsican: culu
Dalmatian: čol
French: cul, culotte
Friulian: cûl
Ido: kulo
Istro-Romanian: cur
Italian: culo
Lombard: cüü
Megleno-Romanian: cur
Occitan: cuol
Old Galician-Portuguese: cuu, cũu
- Fala: cu
- Galician: cu
- Portuguese: cu
Old Spanish: culo
- Ladino: kulo
- Spanish: culo
Romanian: cur
Romansch: tgil, tgigl, chül
Sardinian: colu, cu, culu
Sicilian: culu
Venetan: cuło, cul
Walloon: cou

References

“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’s 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

Adjective

culus

heavy