Not to be immature or anything (interpret the question as you will...), but I was just thinking about how "V" is essentially a feminine symbol. The masculine symbol is usually the reverse, probably playing off the whole yin/yang thing. The structural similarities between the letters and sexual organs of both or undeniably similar, while somewhat simplistic (though its distant origin would suggest simplicity). Where did the word come from and did the fact that it starts with the letter 'v' influence its creation or propagation as a word? Then again, thinking on it....unless it came from English, then the word probably didn't start with a 'v'. Nevertheless, it would still be interesting to know how the word came to be.
asked Feb 16, 2011 at 3:37
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2Off-topic. When I was in Portugal, in nearby shop there was a hand-written advertisement "Vendemos VAGINAS". Well, they were selling VAÇINAS (VACCINES) but wrote it as VAGINAS. And that ad was there during a year. I told tem few times but they seem to have written it in such way intentionally– Gennady Vanin Геннадий ВанинCommented Feb 16, 2011 at 7:38
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Hmmm...ignorant coincidence or some sort of language tradition? Worth investigating? Maybe they just didn't have a cedille and used a 'G' instead? Interesting nevertheless...wonder if tourists thought it was Amsterdam? :)– Mr_CryptoPrimeCommented Feb 16, 2011 at 8:59
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@Mr_CryptoPrime, this was hand-written a little bit carelesslsly, so cedile deeply crossed the letter in one stroke movement– Gennady Vanin Геннадий ВанинCommented Feb 16, 2011 at 9:18
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Usual sleeping bairro lost in outskirts of Lisbon, the shop is in the same (or near, it is difficult to differentiate) building with a church. No, Portugueses just seem to have exquisite sense of humor– Gennady Vanin Геннадий ВанинCommented Feb 17, 2011 at 7:30
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2Only indirectly related, but as an aside, the word ‘vanilla’ comes from the Portuguese vainilha, which in turn is from Vulgar Latin vaginilla, a diminutive of vagina. Basically, vanilla simply means ‘little sheath’.– Janus Bahs JacquetCommented Jul 20, 2013 at 0:07
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1 Answer
Vagina comes from the Latin word vagina, which meant "sheath" or "scabbard". The reason for that etymology should be obvious. However, any visual similarity between the letter V and the anatomy in question is purely coincidental. The word ultimately goes back to a Proto-Indo-European root, which predates written language.
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4Until the 19th century at the earliest, most people could not read. It is very unlikely that any word in use before the middle of the 20th century would be in any way influenced by writing or spelling. (In particular, there are many myths flying about of acronymic origins for words, such as "Port out, Starboard Home", or "Fornication Under Consent of King". These are all false, by the same argument) Commented Feb 16, 2011 at 11:02
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@Colin - Wouldn't those that define the language would be the intelligencia, thus literate? For example: how many illiterate people would have access to a cabin on a ship (in regards to Posh)? That being said, I do agree with you in this case but I was just wondering just how democratic language development is.– daveCommented Feb 18, 2011 at 3:11
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5@Dave: Emphatically not. The people who define the language are those who use it. The intelligentsia, or the nobility, or the politburo, or the media may define what language is socially acceptable, but the people go on expressing themselves as they want to. Actually I must admit that I chose a bad example in 'Posh', because for the reason you give that is an example which could conceivably have happened - it's just that there is no evidence at all for either the phrase or the practice. But there are many more acronymic etymythologies floating around. Commented Feb 18, 2011 at 15:20
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1There have been periods before the 19th century when literacy amongst non-elite people was not uncommon (many Roman and Greek slaves were literate, for example, and there is evidence that at least basic literacy was common among townspeople in many parts of mediaeval Ireland), but even more importantly, up until quite late in history, most Western languages had no standardised orthographies: people spelt words as they pronounced them, which makes influence from spelling to writing quite difficult. Commented Jul 20, 2013 at 0:13
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Does the root
*wag- "to break, split, bite."imply that the vagina itself has holds the action-verb nature of its root? Or does the root pertain because the vagina receives that action, matching the latter linguistics meanings of 'sheathing, husking'? It would seem the latter, but this is a switch of the direction of meaning. I can ask this as a new question, if anyone thinks it well. Commented Nov 19, 2014 at 22:41