ARSENOKOITHS/ARRENOKOITHS

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Tue Mar 7 08:53:46 EST 2000


At 7:49 AM -0600 3/7/00, Steven Craig Miller wrote:
>To: Stephen C. Carlson (or anyone else),
>
>SCC: << "Male-bedder," as in one who beds males, would be more like it. >>
>
>Here is my question, which I've wondered about. Is it theoretically
>possible that the form (or the ending of)  ARSENOKOITAI could be feminine?
>If so, could you cite some similar examples?

Well, what gender would a female-impersonator who beds a male be?
AMFISBAION? OUDETERON? Actually, I can't see any reason why there couldn't
be a feminine ARSENOKOITA although I'd guess the Doric dialect form of
ARSENOKOITHS would be ARSENOKOITAS for the masculine.

Reminds me of the part in Aristophanes' Clouds where Strepsiades is taught
by Socrates that he can form the feminine of "rooster" by changing the
ending -WN in ALEKTRUWN to -AINA to make ALEKTRUAINA, "roosteress." Would a
feminine ARSENOKOITA be a "roosteress" too, perhaps?
-- 

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics/Washington University
One Brookings Drive/St. Louis, MO, USA 63130/(314) 935-4018
Home: 7222 Colgate Ave./St. Louis, MO 63130/(314) 726-5649
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/



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