The Plague of Lust, Vol. 2 (of 2): Being a History of Venereal Disease in Classical AntiquityRosenbaum, Julius
History
The Plague of Lust, Vol. 2 (of 2): Being a History of Venereal Disease in Classical Antiquity
Rosenbaum, Julius
Sexually transmitted diseases -- History
[21] Μύζουσις is cited by _Eustathius_ on Homer, Odyssey XVII. p. 1821.
52. and XIV. p. 1921. end, as also ἀπομύζουρις on Iliad XI. p. 867.
44., in the sense of _fellatrix_, παρὰ τὸ μυζᾶν, ἤγουν θηλάζειν οὐράν.
(connected with μυζᾶν, to suck, that is to say to suck like an infant
a man’s member). _Suidas_ says: μυζεῖ καὶ μύζει, θηλάζει λείχει μῦ,
μύζει· ἀπὸ τοῦ μῦ παρῆκται τὸ μύζειν, πολλοῖς ἄλλοις ὁμοίως· μύζειν δέ
ἐστι τὸ τοῖς μυκτῆρσιν ἦχον ἀποτελεῖν. _Ἀριστοφάνης_ τί μύζεις,—(μυζεῖ
and μύζει,—sucks like an infant, licks with a _mooing_ noise, _moos_);
from this _mooing_ noise is derived μύζειν as is the case with other
similar words; now μύζειν is to produce the noise made in the nostrils
in the act of sucking. Aristophanes has τί μύζεις; (what is the
mooing noise you make?) On this passage of Aristophanes (Thesmoph.
238.) the Scholiast observes: τοῦτο δὲ φώνημα σημαίνει ἔκλυσίν τινα
ἀφροδισιαστικήν· ὅθεν καὶ μύται ἐλέγοντο τὸ παλαιὸν ἀφροδισιασταὶ καὶ
γυναικομανεῖς. (Now this sound proclaims a certain dissoluteness in
lovemaking; whence of old voluptuaries and men mad after women were
called also μύται). Μῦς, the mouse, also comes from the same stem,
from its picking and gnawing; so does μυῖα, the fly, and as _Aelian_,
Hist. Anim. bk. XV. ch. 1., says of a fish, ὑποχανὼν κατέπιε τῆν μυῖαν
(it gaped its mouth and swallowed down the fly), we might perhaps read
μυιοχάνη after flies, as if she wanted to catch flies, a fly-catcher,
fly-trap, unless indeed we prefer to take μυιοχάνη as being a
compound-word expressing a high degree of lecherousness. The lecherous
nature of the fly is well-known, as well as their habit of licking,
which makes _Varro_, de Re Rust. III. ch. 15., say: Non ut muscae
_liguriunt_. (They do not _lick_, like flies). Ligurire (to lick) is
used in the sense of _fellare_ and _cunnilingere_. _Aelian_, Hist.
Anim. bk. IV. ch. 5., mentions a fish, χάνη, which is particularly
lustful: χάνη δὲ ἰχθὺς λαγνίστατος (Now the χάνη is a most lustful
fish). Again μυσαροχάνη (μυσαρὸς, filthy) would be a significant word
for a _fellatrix_.
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