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The Terminology of Prostitution in the Ancient Greek World konstantinos k. kapparis She endures cruel and sneering comments—slut is often interchangeable with whore and bitch—as she walks down the hallway. She is publicly humiliated in the classroom and cafeteria. Her body is considered public property: She is fair game for physical harassment. There is little the targeted girl can do to stop the behavior. Leora Tanenbaum, Slut! Words have power and they can hurt. This conclusion jumps out of the pages of Leora Tanenbaum’s study of the sexual reputation of young women in the United States (1999, xvi). The words we use are very telling of what we believe. They reveal our value system, what we consider acceptable and appropriate and what we do not; they reveal our intent and attitudes, whether we speak of someone with respect or contempt; they can express an emotive or dispassionate outlook; they can suggest distant professionalism or personal involvement , specialized research or generic abstraction, precision or vagueness, interest or indifference. Frequently they work on multiple levels—they mean more than one thing, and they are colored by several undertones and background connections. Thus the attempt to reconstruct social attitudes from the terminology used to convey them is often hazardous, complex, and controversial. However, precisely because vocabulary carries some of the complexity of our thinking, it is a subject worthy of exploration and a pathway to a more profound understanding of the conceptual labyrinth that normally accompanies our social structures, values, and interactions. Historians of prostitution in the ancient world have long tried to 222 10 223 The Terminology of Prostitution understand the undertones and connotations of the rich vocabulary in Greek, with emphasis upon the difference between the two main terms porn¯e and hetaira, but despite a long debate the results remain inconclusive (for further discussion, see McGinn 2004, 7–9; J. Davidson 2007, 56–71; Henderson 1975, 1–107). English uses at least twenty words to describe prostitutes. Discomfort with such vocabulary sometimes generates euphemisms, which themselves may eventually become taboo and lead to additional euphemisms (see Henderson 1975, 54–55). This plenitude enables us to describe more accurately the specific type of services that prostitutes offer and to describe how, where, and under what circumstances they practice their trade. Greek fondness for words and accuracy (and the fact that prostitution was legal and practiced for centuries) has generated ten times as many terms as English to describe the rendering of sexual services for a fee. Among these, porn¯e/pornos (literally, “a woman for sale”/“a man for sale”) has been the allinclusive , generic term from the seventh century BCE to the present day, frequently indicating the common prostitute, with no distinctive features, and has generated important compounds and derivatives in many languages (e.g., pornography ). A vast number of additional words were used to define specific categories or specializations—for example, hetaira (female companion), euphemistically describing a high-class courtesan; aul¯etris (flute player); psaltria (singer); orch¯estris (dancer)—or types and qualities of prostitution—chamaitup¯e (ground beater); pei¯ol¯es (cock sucker). Some of these terms have been discussed before ( J. Davidson 1997, 73ff.; J. Davidson 2007, 56–71; Kapparis 1999, 408–9; Miner 2003, 19– 37; Glazebrook 2005a, 161–87; Fisher 2001, 40ff.), but most remain unexplored. Here I focus on less common terms for female and male prostitution. I provide without further discussion some common terms or expressions that were indirectly used for prostitutes (e.g., “shameless”) or those who behaved like prostitutes (e.g., “filthier than hetairai ”) but that were not really specialized terms. I include any term that has been listed as prostitutional by ancient or Byzantine sources. After offering a brief introduction to lexicographic collections of this invective I explore the origins, meanings, and usages of the words and how they fit into the wider context of social attitudes and stereotypes surrounding this centrally important cultural phenomenon. The present study is intended as only the beginning of a much larger project; it is in a sense a continuation of the discussion Jeffrey Henderson started in the Maculate Muse. Henderson has discussed words for genitals and sexual acts but has almost completely excluded the vocabulary of venal sex; moreover his focus is on Attic comedy. This study draws from a much wider pool, including the lexicographers all the way to late Byzantium, and deals primarily with the vocabulary of prostitution. [3.135.205.146] Project MUSE (2024...

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