Medieval Galician documents are surveyed for designations of the penis, erection, impotence, and ejaculation. The terms are analyzed for motivation, metaphoricity, degree of linguistic creativity, neologization means/strategies, euphemism/disphemism status, antonomasia, synecdoche, social acceptance/interdiction, vulgar/obscene vs. official/ church register, Latin sources, and occurrence context. The peculiar nature of sex-related vocabulary is ascribed to the weight of linguistic taboo affecting its creation and use. (Copyright 1997, Sociological Abstracts, Inc., all rights reserved.) (LLBA 1997, vol. 31, n. 5)