draucus

Latin

Etymology

Unknown. Likely borrowed, possibly from Gaulish.^[1]

Pronunciation

(Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈdrau̯.kus/, [ˈd̪räu̯kʊs̠]
(modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈdrau̯.kus/, [ˈd̪räːu̯kus]

Noun

draucus m (genitive draucī); second declension

weightlifter, strongman, athlete
- 86 CE – 103 CE, Martial, Epigrammata 1.96.12:
  Rogābit unde suspicer virum mollem.
  Ūnā lavāmur: aspicit nihil sūrsum,
  sed spectat oculīs dēvorantibus draucōs
  nec ōtiōsīs mentulās videt lābrīs.
  1993 translation by D. R. Shackleton Bailey
  He will ask how I come to suspect the man of effeminacy. We bathe together. He never looks up, but watches the athletes with devouring eyes and his lips work as he gazes at their cocks.
- 86 CE – 103 CE, Martial, Epigrammata 7.67.5:
  Pēdīcat puerōs tribas Philaenis
  et tentīgine saevior marītī
  ūndēnās dolat in diē puellās.
  Harpastō quoque subligāta lūdit
  et flāvēscit haphē, gravēsque draucīs
  haltēras facilī rotat lacertō
  1993 translation by D. R. Shackleton Bailey
  Lesbian Philaenis sodomizes boys and, more cruel than a husband’s lust, penetrates eleven girls per diem. She also plays with the harpastum high-girt, gets yellow with sand, and with effortless arm rotates weights that would tax an athlete
- 86 CE – 103 CE, Martial, Epigrammata 9.27.10:
  Occurrit aliquis inter ista sī draucus,
  iam paedagōgō līberātus et cuius
  refībulāvit turgidum faber pēnem,
  nūtū vocātum dūcis, et pudet fārī
  Catōniānā, Chrēste, quod facis linguā.
  1993 translation by D. R. Shackleton Bailey
  If, as this goes on, some young athlete comes your way, now freed from tutelage, whose swollen penis has been unpinned by the smith, you summon him with a nod and lead him off; and I shouldn’t like to say, Chrestus, what you do with your Catonian tongue.
- 86 CE – 103 CE, Martial, Epigrammata 11.72.1:
  Draucī Natta suī vorat pipinnam,
  collātus cui gallus est Priāpus.
  1993 translation by D. R. Shackleton Bailey
  Natta devours the willy of his young athlete, compared to whom Priapus is a eunuch.
- 86 CE – 103 CE, Martial, Epigrammata 14.48.1:
  Haec rapit Antaeī vēlōx in pulvere draucus,
  Grandia quī vānō colla labōre facit.
  1993 translation by D. R. Shackleton Bailey
  These the swift athlete, who makes his neck big by futile toil, snatches in Antaeus' dust.
sodomite
Synonyms: pēdīcō, pēdīcātor
- 1558, Giambattista della Porta, Magia naturalis :
  Talia fecit concava specula Hostius, ut refert Seneca, ut redderent maiorem iusto imaginem, que quadra fuit libidinis magna, sic specula disponens, ut dum draucum pateretur, sui admissarii motus omnes aversus videret, talique falsa membri crassitie se ipsum fallens oblectaretur.
  (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Usage notes

Attested in ancient literature only in the poems of Martial, where the draucus is often presented as an object of male homosexual desire. For this reason, it was long interpreted by postclassical scholars as having a sense along the lines of "sodomite", and is defined as such in many dictionaries. Housman 1930 argues that this was not part of the word's inherent denotation in Classical Latin, citing Martial 7.67 and 14.48 as poems where this definition would not make sense, but a definition like "athlete" would.^[2]^[3]

Declension

Second-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	draucus	draucī
genitive	draucī	draucōrum
dative	draucō	draucīs
accusative	draucum	draucōs
ablative	draucō	draucīs
vocative	drauce	draucī

References

^ Weiss, Michael (2018) “Limited Latin Grassmann's Law: Do We Need It?”, in Dieter Gunkel, Stephanie W. Jamison, Angelo O. Mercado and Kazuhiko Yoshida, editors, Vina Diem Celebrent: Studies in Linguistics and Philology in Honor of Brent Vine, Ann Arbor: Beech Stave Press, page 442
^ Housman, A. E. (1930) “Draucus and Martial XI 8 1”, in The Classical Review, volume 44, number 4, →JSTOR, pages 114-116
^ Nikolaev, Alexander (2014) “Latin Draucus”, in The Classical Quarterly, volume 64, number 1, →JSTOR, pages 316-320