Plus it's useful in DeepLeap when you have the dreaded C and U.

actually, i'v seen female genitalia referred to by the words 'cunnus' and 'cunnie' in a few latin texts, and may even have seen a similiar word, like "kunsos" or something, in greek. i wouldn't be surprised if this one goes back to indo-european. if i had access to books right now i'd try seeing if there were a similar word in an indian language perhaps....

*Nods emphatically*

Note that the author himself does not hold the woman in high esteem.The villagers hold her in high esteem. He is using the word 'cunning' in its perjorative sense: her knowledge and wisdom is of a dangerous and immoral form. It is not the virtuous learning of an educated man, rather it is the depths to which a woman can sink if her passions and natural proclivities are not contained. By 1874 there had already been at least 100 years of holding up 'cunning' as one of the vices women naturally tend to if not given a proper education. The lower-orders also, were considered to have 'cunning' naturally.

Boom Boom!



From memory, I've read that cunt is derived from latin, Cunare, meaning wedge, and this is the root (ahem) for cunnilingus, the application of the tounge to said area.
I was a bit puzzled though, I guess the pubic hair is vaguely wedge shaped, but I don't see much wedgeiness in the vulva/vagina itself. (I'll have to look into it more closely!)
I can understand, however, cunare meaning wedge being related to cunning, meaning clever/effective. Splitting, lifting or whatever is often made easier by use of a wedge. And golf.

Whatever you call it here's how to pierce it. Obviously NSFW!

the one I really can't stand is "vajajay"

blecch

I didn't watch it, but just the presence of the word "amateur" in the filename make me cringe.

That just means it was submitted by a reader of the site, rather than coming from another site.

dana: "Note that the author himself does not hold the woman in high esteem.The villagers hold her in high esteem."
actually, if you're gonna nitpick, it's worth noting that the quote says that the woman's "knowledge and wisdom" were held in high esteem by the villagers. i can have great esteem for my doctor's skills and still think she's an ass.
zen: my own memory is often wrong. i definitely recall seeing "cunni" used as a slang term somewhere tho, and it seemed to carry a slightly vulgar tone.
and, since i personally used to call a gf's pubic region in general "the triangle" i can fully understand "the wedge". yeah, this was mainly based on the natural shape of the pubes, and also just kind of the shape of that fine area, where the planes of her hips and perfectly flat stomach converged to point to the promised land....






<...sigh>

Yes, her knowledge and wisdom is held in high esteem by the villagers, but his designation of her particular kind of knowledge as 'cunning' is heavily imbued with significance. It could only be, in the gendered semiotic of eighteenth and nineteenth-century British culture. It is perjorative in the same way sinister is. Sinister is perjorative because of it's association with left-handedness and homosexuality; cunning is perjorative because of its feminine associations. The culture that produced that tag had spent a century and more reducing female wisdom's cultural status to something less rational or relevant than male wisdom: 'cunning' despite his other references to knowledge and wisdom is 'untutored' and 'natural' ie. female; and potentially dangerous.

it's 'pejorative' btw

i'm wondering if 'cunning' mightn't also be related to 'ken' (which sounds scottish to me, but i don't have a proper dictionary around..)

kennen ... German, "to know" in the sense of to be familiar with, to be acquainted with (as opposed to factual knowledge).

Ta for the spelling lesson :P

Could well be a connection then. Both are informal types knowledge.