Ruth Padel, whose most recent book is Darwin: A Life in Poems, is resident poet at Somerset House.
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print this articleFrom Luigi Romeo
On the existence of both the nominative and the genitive of ‘clitoris’ in Latin, with apologies to Ruth Padel (LRB, 8 May):
Dear Don and Chris,
with regard to the genitive
of clitoris
not in Greek, which is easy, but Latin,
well, Roman cowboys
did not use any toys
to stimulate that tender
remnant of paleo-sex.
They employed only a fleshy member,
not a dildo of latex.
Had Ruth tried to remember
the power of analogical creation
like the formation
of genitive iridis
from nominative iris,
dear Don and Chris,
she could have dispensed
with all dictionaries
in three languages.
However, if she needed an icon
to warranty her scholarship,
she could have consulted
the LEXICON
LATINO-JAPONICUM,
not the Torah,
AUCTORE
HIDENAKA
TANAKA,
Tokiensi
In Aedibus Kenkiusha,
MDCCCCLXIII,
to find on page
one hundred and eight,
that in Latin
the nominative is clitoris
and the genitive clitoridis
Luigi Romeo
Nederland, Colorado
From Penny McCarthy
Re Don Paterson and Ruth Padel’s discussion:
The genitive of clitoris must be clitoreõs:
any further remark would be otiose …
(But was it really the grammar they were interested in?
Or was it sin?)
Penny McCarthy
New York