Cover not available
Article published In:
Exploring (im)politeness in ancient languages
Edited by Kim Ridealgh
[Journal of Historical Pragmatics 20:2] 2019
► pp. 186–203

How filthy was Cleopatra?

Looking for dysphemistic words in ancient Greek

| Bristol University
Starting from a sexual pun in Greek reputedly made by Cleopatra in 31 bce on the word τορύνη (torunē) (‘ladle’), this paper argues that the linguist can successfully take up the “evaluator’s role” (Kádár and Culpeper 2010: 18) in ascertaining the dysphemistic value of words in historical corpora. Typically offensive words constitute a special category of impolite verbal behaviours, and it is argued that a reflection of the historical schemata which guided the use of dysphemistic words by speakers can be detected in patterns of use in extant texts, and used as a guide for their identification. The paper highlights the need for greater openness as to which “denotata” produce offensive words, and more cross-linguistic work on dysphemism. It discusses the problems of interpretation of historical metaphors, and it ends with a detailed discussion of the evidence for the dysphemistic value of the word on which Cleopatra’s pun hinges.
Keywords: Ancient Greek, dysphemism, historical linguistics, impoliteness, metaphors, offence, pragmatics, semantics, sex, taboo
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction: “What’s so terrible about Caesar sitting on a ladle?”
  • 2.Patterns of cross varietal synonymy
  • 3.Which denotata?
  • 4.Typically dysphemistic words and dysphemistic metaphors
  • 5.Assessing Cleopatra’s “ladle”
  • 6.Closing remarks
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 10 December 2019
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/jhp.00028.cok
References (43)
References
Adams, James N. 1982. The Latin Sexual Vocabulary. London: Duckworth.Google Scholar
Adams, Robert M. 1985. “Soft Soap and the Nitty-Gritty”. In Dennis J. Enright (ed.), Fair of Speech: The Uses of Euphemism, 44–55. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Allan, Keith. 2007. “The Pragmatics of Connotation”. Journal of Pragmatics 39 (6): 1047–1057. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2016. “A Benchmark for Politeness”. In Alessandro Capone and Jacob L. Mey (eds), Interdisciplinary Studies in Pragmatics, Culture and Society, 397–420. London: Springer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Allan, Keith and Kate Burridge. 1991. Euphemism and Dysphemism: Language Used as Shield and Weapon. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
. 2006. Forbidden Words: Taboo and the Censoring of Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Attardo, Salvatore. 1994. Linguistic Theories of Humor. Berlin: De Gruyter.Google Scholar
Bain, David. 1991. “Six Greek Verbs of Sexual Congress (βινῶ, κινῶ, πυγίζω, ληκῶ, οἴφω, λαικάζω)”. Classical Quarterly 41 (1): 51–77. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 1997. “Two Submerged Items of Greek Sexual Vocabulary from Aphrodisias”. Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 1171: 81–84.Google Scholar
Bax, Marcel and Daniel Z. Kádár. 2011. “The Historical Understanding of Historical (Im)politeness”. Journal of Historical Pragmatics 12 (1–2): 1–24. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Brown, Penelope and Stephen C. Levinson. 1987. Politeness: Some Universals in Language Usage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Coker, Amy. 2019. “Obscenity: A Problem for the Lexicographer”. In Chris Stray, Michael Clarke and Joshua Katz (eds), Liddell and Scott: The History, Methodology and Languages of the World’s Leading Lexicon of Ancient Greek, 61–81. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
. Forthcoming. “Fluid Vocabulary: The Greek and Latin Lexicon of Bodily Effluvia”. In Laurence Totelin, Victoria Leonard and Mark Bradley (eds), Bodily Fluids/Fluid Bodies in Greek and Roman Antiquity. London: Routledge.
Crespo-Fernández, Eliecer. 2015. Sex in Language: Euphemistic and Dysphemistic Metaphors in Internet Forums. London: Bloomsbury.Google Scholar
Critchley, Simon. 2002. On Humour. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Culpeper, Jonathan. 2011. Impoliteness. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Deignan, Alice. 2005. Metaphor and Corpus Linguistics. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Geeraerts, Dirk. 2010. Theories of Lexical Semantics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Geertz, Clifford. 1973. “Thick Description: Toward an Interpretive Theory of Culture”. In Clifford Geertz (ed.), The Interpretation of Cultures, 3–30 New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Hallett, Judith P. 1977. “ Perusinae glandes and the Changing Image of Augustus”. American Journal of Ancient History 2 (2): 151–171.Google Scholar
Halliwell, Stephen. 1991. “The Uses of Laughter in Greek Culture”. Classical Quartlerly 41 (2): 279–296. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2008. Greek Laughter: A Study of Cultural Psychology from Homer to Early Christianity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Henderson, Jeffrey. 1991. The Maculate Muse. Obscene Language in Attic Comedy. (Second edition.) Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Jocelyn, Henry D. 1980. “A Greek Indecency and its Students: λαικάζειν”. Procedings of the Cambridge Philological Society 261: 12–66. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kádár, Dániel Z. 2013. Relational Rituals and Communication: Ritual Interaction in Groups. London: Palgrave Macmillan. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kádár, Dániel Z. and Jonathan Culpeper. 2010. “Historical (Im)politeness: An Introduction”. In Jonathan Culpeper and Daniel Z. Kádár (eds), Historical (Im)politeness. Linguistic Insights 651, 9–36. Bern: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
Kádár, Dániel Z. and Michael Haugh. 2013. Understanding Politeness. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lakoff, George and Mark Johnson. 1980. Metaphors We Live By. London: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Luján, Eugenio R. 2010. “Semantic Change”. In Silvia Luraghi and Vit Bubenik (eds), The Bloomsbury Companion to Historical Linguistics, 286–310. London: Bloomsbury.Google Scholar
Müller, Dietram. 1974. Handwerk und Sprache. Die sprachlichen Bilder aus dem Bereich des Handwerks in der griechischen Literatur bis 400 v. Chr. Meisenheim am Glan: Verlag Anton Hain.Google Scholar
Musolff, Andreas. 2010. Metaphor, Nation and the Holocaust: The Concept of the Body Politic. Abingdon: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2017. “Truth, Lies and Figurative Scenarios: Metaphors at the Heart of Brexit”. Journal of Language and Politics 16 (5): 641–657. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Parker, Holt. 1997. “The Teratogenic Grid”. In Judith P. Hallett and Marilyn B. Skinner (eds), Roman Sexualities, 47–65. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
. 2011. “Sex, Popular Beliefs, and Culture”. In Mark Golden and Peter Toohey (eds), A Cultural History of Sexuality in the Classical World, 124–144. London: Bloomsbury. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Patrick, Peter L. 2002. “The Speech Community”. In Jack K. Chambers, Peter Trudgill and Natalie Schilling-Estes (eds), The Handbook of Language Variation and Change, 573–597. London: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Pelling, Christopher. 1988. Plutarch: Life of Anthony. Cambridge Greek and Latin Classics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Pizarro Pedraza, Andrea (ed.). 2018. Linguistic Taboo Revisited. Berlin: De Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sommerstein, Alan H. 1981. Knights: The Comedies of Aristophanes Volume 2. Warminster: Aris and Phillips.Google Scholar
Sparkes, Brian A. 1962. “The Greek Kitchen”. Journal of Hellenic Studies 821: 121–137. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Taillardat, Jean. 1962. Les images d’Aristophane: étude de langue et de style. Paris: Les Belles Lettres.Google Scholar
Terkourafi, Maria. 2005. “Beyond the Micro-level in Politeness Research”. Journal of Politeness Research: Language, Behaviour, Culture 1 (2): 237–262. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Valente, Stefano. 2012. I lessici a Platone di Timeo Sofista e Pseudo-Didimo: introduzione ed edizione critica. SGLG 14. Berlin: De Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Watts, Richard J. 2003. Politeness. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar