Κλειτοριάζειν

to [touch the] clitoris

Translated by Ross Scaife ✝13 Feb 2000Vetting: high4 revisions

7 words

[Meaning] licentious touching of the female genitalia.

Greek original · Adler’s text

Κλειτοριάζειν· τὸ ἀκολάστως ἅπτεσθαι τοῦ γυναικείου αἰδοίου.

Betacode

*kleitoria/zein: to\ a)kola/stws a(/ptesqai tou= gunaikei/ou ai)doi/ou.

Same entry in Photius; similar ones in other lexica; see the references at Photius kappa763 Theodoridis.
cf. generally mu 1462.
The word kleitori/s and its cognates are post-classical. In the C5 BCE Stesimbrotos of Thasos claimed that twin sons of Kimon had been born e)k gunaiko\s...*kleitori/as (FGrH 372 F37, in Plutarch, Kimon 16.1); that is, ostensibly, "from a woman of Kleitor [in northern Arkadia]". Scholars have debated back and forth the question of whether -- as suggested by A.E. Raubitschek -- an obscene pun was intended. See e.g. J.K. Davies, Athenian Propertied Families 600-300 BC (Oxford 1971) 304; A. Blamire, Plutarch: Life of Kimon (London 1989) 163; R.D. Cromey, American Journal of Philology 112 (1991) 87ff.

Revision history4 revisions · last 1 May 2016