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Latin profanity is the profane, indecent, or impolite vocabulary of Latin, and its uses. Words deemed profane were described as ''obsc(a)ena'' (obscene, lewd, unfit for public use), or ''improba'' (improper, in poor taste, undignified). Profanities occurred rarely in classical Latin, limited to satirical works and commentaries on word usage. But they could be found in Vulgar Latin (a phrase which means "the language spoken by the common people"). Since profanities are informal and more often spoken than committed to paper, it is worthwhile to note several written sources of Latin profanity: * The satirical poets, especially Catullus and Martial, use the words in preserved literary works. Horace also used them in his earlier poems. The anonymous ''Priapeia'' is another important literary source. * The orator and lawyer Cicero's ''Epistulae ad Familiares'' ("Letters to My Friends") confirm the "profane" or "obscene" status of many Latin words. * Medical, especially veterinary texts using certain anatomical words that, outside of their technical context, would have been considered profane. * Graffiti from the Roman period, scrawled notably on the walls of Pompeii and Herculaneum. == ''Mentula'' and ''verpa'': the penis == ''Mentula'' is the basic Latin word for penis. Its status as a basic obscenity is confirmed by the Priapeia 28, in which ''mentula'' and ''cunnus'' are given as ideal examples of obscene words: : ''Obscenis, peream, Priape, si non uti me pudet improbisque verbis sed cum tu posito deus pudore ostendas mihi coleos patentes cum cunno mihi mentula est vocanda'' :: ("I'd rather die than use obscene and improper words; but when you, Priapus, as a god, appear with your testicles hanging out, it is appropriate for me to speak of cunts and cocks.") ''Verpa'' is also a basic Latin obscenity for "penis". It appears less frequently in Classical Latin, but it does appear in Catullus 47: : ''vos Veraniolo meo et Fabullo verpus praeposuit Priapus ille?'' :: ("Did that dick, that Priapus, prefer you to my dear Veraniolus and Fabullus?") ''Verpus'', adjective and noun, referred to a man whose ''glans'' was exposed, either by an erection or by circumcision; thus Juvenal has : ''Quaesitum ad fontem solos deducere verpos'' :: ("To guide only the circumcised (Jews ) to the fountain that they seek"). 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Latin profanity」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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