Aphrodite: Callipygian Venus
The Greek word for buttocks is pi-upsilon-gamma-eta. The upsilon is usually transliterated as a -y-, so we’d spell the base root as -pyg-. Let’s look at some of the words containing that root and check their meanings.
• callipygian: Of, pertaining to, or having well-shaped or finely developed buttocks.
• cytopyge: the excretory opening or anus of a unicellular animal.
• dasypygal: Having hairy buttocks; rough-bottomed.
• platypygous: broad-bottomed (of boats) Zoology Obs. rare having broad buttocks.
• pygal: Of or pertaining to the rump or hind quarters of an animal.
• pygobranchiate: a group of gastropods having the gills arranged round the anus.
• pygopage: a monster consisting of twins united in the region of the buttocks.
• steatopygia: A protuberance of the buttocks, due to an abnormal accumulation of fat in and behind the hips and thighs.
• uropygial: Situated on, belonging to, the rump. Ornithology
Don’t confuse it with the other Greek root -pyg-, transferred to Latin as -pug-, which relates to fighting (impugn, repugn) and to the fist (pugilism, pugilist, pygmy).
See Shortchanged [September 22, 2006]
