Hermaphrodite (pronounced hur-maf-ruh-dahyt)
(1) In human physiology, an individual in which both male
and female reproductive organs (and sometimes also all or some of the secondary
sex characteristics) are present, or in which the chromosomal patterns do not
fall under typical definitions of male and female. It’s no longer used to describe people, except
in the technical language of medicine or pathology and is now considered offensive,
intersex the preferred term).
(2) In zoology, an organism (such as the earthworm) having
both the male and female organs of reproduction.
(3) Of, relating to, or characteristic of a
hermaphrodite.
(4) In botany, having stamens and pistils in the same
flower; the alternative term is monoclinous.
(5) In figurative use, a person or thing in which two
opposite forces or qualities are combined.
(6) In historic admiralty use as hermaphrodite brig, a vessel
square-masted fore and schooner-rigged aft (obsolete).
1350–1400: From the Middle English hermofrodite, from the Latin hermaphrodītus,
from the Greek hermaphródītos (person
partaking of the attributes of both sexes).
The French, dating from the 1750s, was hermaphrodisme. The word was derived from the proper name Hermaphroditus
(or Hermaphroditos), a figure in Greek mythology, son of Hermes and Aphrodite,
who, in Ovid, who the nymph Salmacis loved so ardently that she prayed for
complete union with him, The gods
granted her wish and they were united bodily, combining male and female
characteristics.
The slang “dyke”, was used to describe a lesbian (or,
more correctly, usually a subset of lesbians) and is now considered a gay slur,
unless self-applied or used (with mutual or common consent) within the LGBTQQIAAOP
community. It was applied, usually pejoratively,
to lesbians thought “tough, mannish, or aggressive”, unlike the "lipstick lesbians" preferred by the pornography industry and was a creation of American
English although the origin is disputed.
Some claim it to be from 1931 as a truncation of morphadike (the dialectal
garbling of hermaphrodite) but bulldyker (one known to engage in lesbionic activities) is
attested from 1921. One dictionary of American
slang cites an 1896 source where dyke is slang for "the vulva" while
another says that at least since 1893, as "hedge on the dyke", it
referred to “female pubic hair".
Several texts confirm the long forms, bulldiker & bulldyking, were first
part of oral use by African-Americans in the 1920s yet no African antecedents
have been found, the assumption by etymologists that these are
adaptations of backcountry, barnyard slang, perhaps either influenced by or an
actual combination of the sounds of the words “bull” & “dick”.
The noun androgyne was picked up in the mid-twelfth
century from the Medieval Latin androgyne
(feminine), from the Greek androgynos
(a hermaphrodite, a woman-man). The
modern-sounding adjective ambisexual began not with the psychiatrists but was
used by clothing manufacturers to describe garments which could (within
size-ranges) be worn by men or women without modification. Bisexual, although it didn’t enter the jargon
of psychology until 1912, had been used in its modern sense since appearing in Charles
Chaddock's (1861–1936) 1892 translation of an 1886 text of psychiatric illnesses;
prior to that volume, bisexual had been used only in botany to refer to hermaphroditic
plants or as descriptions of institutions such as (what are now called co-educational)
schools. Bisexous (1838) and bisexuous
(1856) were other coinings suggested for use in the sense of hermaphrodite; for
a topic often taboo, linguistically, it was becoming a crowded field. Ambosexual (1935) again sounds modern but ambosexous
as another synonym for hermaphrodite was used as early as the 1650s. Ambisextrous (1929) was a humorous coinage
based on ambidextrous and, predictably, came from the fertile imaginations of either schoolboys or undergraduates, depending on the source cited. The synonym gynandrous
was first recorded circa 1765, and was from the Greek gunandros (of uncertain sex; of doubtful sex), the construct being gunē (woman) + anēr (man) + the suffix –ous (used to form adjectives from nouns). The term pseudohermaphroditism was created in
1876 by German-Swiss microbiologist Edwin Klebs (1834–1913) and that described a a condition in which an
individual has a matching chromosomal and gonadal tissue (ovary or testis) sex,
but mismatching external genitalia and the nouns hermaphrodeity (circa 1610s) hermaphroditism (1807) are still used in the jargon of medicine and pathology.
Because of the taboo nature of hermaphrodite in some societies, it also attracted the creation of euphemisms. One used in Old English was skratte (and there were variations) from the Old Norse skratte (goblin, wizard). The original sense was probably “a monster" and the similar sounding “Old Scratch” (the Devil), from the earlier scrat was known from the 1740s; all hint at negative associations and it’s assumed most were generally aimed at women who didn't conform with the conventional standards of what men thought "attractive". The familiar adjective androgynous was used from the 1620s in the sense of “a womanish man” and by the 1650s, "having two sexes, being both male and female". It was from the Latin androgynus, from the Greek androgynos (hermaphrodite, male and female in one; womanish man) and (this time neutrally) as an adjective to describe public baths "common to men and women". Semi was applied from the 1300s (mostly to men) to convey the sense of “only half masculine”, sem- a word-forming element (half, part, partly; partial, imperfect) from the Latin semi- (half) from the primitive Indo-European semi- (half), source also of the Sanskrit sami (half), the Greek hēmi- (half), the Old English sam- and the Gothic sami- (half).
To convey the sense of disapprobation associated with hermaphroditism, especially as it manifested in effeminate men, probably the best example is “bad”. It was rare before 1400 and evil remained more frequently used until circa 1700 but the meanings "inadequate, unsatisfactory, worthless; unfortunate" & "wicked, evil, vicious; counterfeit" were universal by the late 1300s. Unusually for English, it appears to have no relatives in other languages, the conclusion of many etymologists being it’s likely from the Old English derogatory term bæddel and its diminutive bædling (effeminate man, hermaphrodite, pederast), both of which are probably related to bædan (to defile). The term hermaphrodite was once commonly applied to people, neutrally in medicine and variously otherwise but the latter is thought now offensive, "intersex" the preferred term. It can refer to a person born with both male and female reproductive organs or with a chromosomal pattern that does not align with typical male or female patterns, for instance, an individual with a mix of XX and XY chromosomes or with androgen insensitivity syndrome.
Salmacis and Hermaphroditus
Greek mythology has twists and turns, forks and dead ends. Sometimes the tales vary in detail, sometimes
they’re contradictory and often the myths can in themselves be mythological,
the work even of medieval writers rather than anything from antiquity. That’s never stopped some of the later texts entering
the popular imagination becoming part of the mythological canon. Roman lyric poets were known to pen the myths
too. Although Hermaphroditus is
mentioned in Greek literature hundreds of years earlier as a figure of some
sexual ambiguity and with no mention of Salmacis, nor with any reference to
being the child of Hermes and Aphrodite, the best known rendition of the legend
of Salmacis and Hermaphroditus is that written by the Roman poet Ovid (Pūblius
Ovidius Nāsō (43 BC–circa 17)).
Ovid relates that Hermaphroditus had been raised in the caves
on the slopes of Mount Ida, a sacred mountain in Phrygia. It was a happy, tranquil youth but in
adolescence, he grew restive in the wilderness and like many young men he was drawn to the "corrupting coast" and the "corrosive city" and set off to travel to the large settlement Caria. He actually took a bit of a risk in
his wandering because the naiads (female water spirits who lived near fountains,
springs and streams of fresh water who raised and cared for him) could be
dangerous, known to be jealous types, but Ovid doesn’t dwell on this, despite rarely having much diffidence in commenting on dangerous women.
Salmacis and Hermaphroditus (1856), oil on canvas by Giovanni Carnovali (1804–1873).
It was in a forest on the outskirts of Caria, near Halicarnassus
that Hermaphroditus and the nymph Salmacis met. She was bathing in her pool as the beautiful
boy walked past and the moment she cast her eyes upon him, she fell in love. In her lust she fell upon him, begging him to
take her but young and unsure, he pushed her away, refusing her every advance. Tearfully she ran away and hid. Hot and tired from his long journey, Hermaphroditus,
thinking she was gone, undressed and plunged into the cool, clear waters of
the pool. At this, Salmacis sprang from
her shelter into the water, wrapping her arms around the struggling youth, her voice
begging the gods that they would never part.
The lascivious waif’s wish was granted, their bodies blended into one to
become “a creature of both sexes".
The last act of Hermaphroditus as he was transformed was his prayer to
his parents Hermes and Aphrodite that all who swam in these waters would be
similarly transformed. They answered his
prayer.
Lindsay Lohan as Aphrodite, emerging from the depths.
The archeological record does indicate the idea of some form of sexual dualism is ancient, statutes and surviving art predating any of the known myths of antiquity so depictions of the quality of hermaphroditism as a part of the human condition is certainly ancient. There are some relicts from the seventh century BC, including a statue of Aphroditos (a figure explicitly both male and female) which scholars speculate may have been either a figure of worship for a cult or a symbol of fertility. The statue was cast at least three-hundred years before the first known reference to Hermaphroditus in any Greek text and while there are many variations of the story, Ovid’s is the best remembered, certainly because it’s the most complete but probably also because it’s the best.
No comments:
Post a Comment