Talk:penetralium

Where does this definition come from? Penetralium isn't in the OED, though penetralia is, and with something pretty close to this definition. Penetralium isn't attested in Latin, as far as I know (admittedly limited there, but I've thumbed a bunch of dictionaries, looking). The only known uses of penetralium in English that I know of (besides some limited contemporary usage) are by John Keats (in the Negative Capability letter) and by Emily Bronte in Wuthering Heights. The point being that, while penetralia does have a clear denotation (deriving from penates, the Latin gods of the hearth), penetralium does not. Bronte's use is clearly sexual while Keats' is defiantly metaphysical. So if anybody can offer further citation and/or elucidation of this definition, I'd love to see it! Funkendub 02:10, 1 August 2007 (UTC)

I have read Bronte's Wuthering Heights and her use is not "clearly sexual."

Bronte's use seems to invite being misconstrued as sexual but I agree, it isn't. Penetralia: innermost parts, a Latin plural noun form. So penetralium: innermost part, a Latin singular noun form. Might have existed or might have been coined.