Cinaedus (was Re: New Arvorec words)

Barry Garcia writes:
>Barry Garcia writes:
>CONLANG@LISTSERV.BROWN.EDU writes:
><shrugs> I don't know. I got it from Catullus' poem 16, where it occurs in
>the vocative CINAEDE, translated "sodomite". I'm not sure if it was VL.
>However, the Arvorc'hedow were educated types and would have known the
>word.
>
>Dan
>
One site I came across said it came from a greek word: kinaedos.

From: http://www.princeton.edu/~clee/val3.html

"There is considerable debate about who constitutes a cinaedus. The debate
seems to center around the work of Winkler and Richlin. Winkler remarks
that "The kinaedos ... is not a 'homosexual' but neither is he just an
ordinary guy who now and then decided to commit a kinaidic act. The
conception of a kinaidos was of a man socially deviant in his entire
being, principally observable in behavior that flagrantly violated or
contravened the dominant social definition of masculinity. To this extent,
kinaidos was a category of person, not just of acts" (45-46). Richlin
unequivocally defines cinaedi as passive homosexuals: "Although it is true
that some authors claim that a man's wife is involved with a cinaedus and
that cinaedi seem to be faulted for excessive sexiness in general, the
involvement of a cinaedus with a woman is usually set up as a surprise;
overwhelmingly and explicitly, cinaedi are said, with disgust, to be
passive homosexuals" (549). Gleason's definition provides a good
compromise on this issue and is the one this study shall use: "The word
cinaedus ... describes sexual deviant, in its most specific sense
referring to males who prefer to play a passive role in intercourse with
other men" (64).

Returning to Vettius, the assocation between malakos and cinaedus implies
passive homosexual behavior; however, the context becomes even more
explicit with the verb pascheitiwn which denotes passive homosexual
behavior and androgamos, a word which LSJ cites as a synonym for kinaedos.
Vettius is clearly describing passive homosexual behavior, and he uses
malakos to exploit the connection between effeminacy and passive
homosexuality. As has been mentioned earlier, this connection seems to
disappear in the writings of Paul and his followers.
"
and also from:
http://ancienthistory.about.com/homework/ancienthistory/library/weekly/aa011500a.htm

"The objects of Catullus' derision are the cinaedi, a sub-culture of urban
Rome that has been described variously as

(1) the epitome of the un-male:
"a necessary negative" to the standard Roman concept of masculinity,
illustrating, almost in comic book fashion, "what a real man must not
be...."

(2) social pariahs like flamboyant contemporary transvestites:
"The kinaedos ... is not a 'homosexual' but neither is he just an ordinary
guy who now and then decided to commit a kinaidic act. The conception of a
kinaidos was of a man socially deviant in his entire being, principally
observable in behavior that flagrantly violated or contravened the
dominant social definition of masculinity. To this extent, kinaidos was a
category of person, not just of acts" ....

(3) passive partners in sexual intercourse:

Gleason's definition provides a good compromise on this issue and is the
one this study shall use: "The word cinaedus ... describes sexual deviant,
in its most specific sense referring to males who prefer to play a passive
role in intercourse with other men" .
untitled
"
>
>
____________________________________________

At the end of it all lies of course the final phenomenon of
 deterioration-entropy-which is a predictable deterioration
 when the creative energy ceases: everything has to fall apart.

- from: "Haunted" Poe