Of Men and Mollusks

Came across this choice bit of abuse this afternoon:

πλεύμονα αὐτὸν ἐκάλει καὶ ἀγράμματον καὶ ἀπατεῶνα καὶ πόρνον.
—Diogenes Laertius 10.8

I render this as: “He <Epicurus> calls him <Democritus> a mollusk and an illiterate and a cheat and a whore.”

Democritus, as described by Epicurus

I’m pretty confident about everything but the last word. Sex words in ancient languages are somewhat difficult to translate because the dictionaries have traditionally been prissy on these dangerous subjects. LSJ squirmingly defines πόρνος as “catamite; sodomite”… as if same-sex activity between men weren’t widely acceptable in the ancient Greek world. The newish (2021) Cambridge Greek Dictionary does better, defining πόρνος as “male prostitute; rent boy.”

That male sticks in my craw, though. (Don’t go sticking things in my craw.) I think there’s a widespread presumption among modern English speakers that terms about sex-workers are feminine by default, so that the term whore would misgender the Greek word (and atomist philosopher). 

But rent boy, though contemptuous, is light-hearted, whereas whore seems like an angrier word, a closer match to the Greek. I could render πόρνος as male whore, but that would endorse the (incorrect) assumption that male sex-workers are some kind of anomaly.

I realize that I have just written more than 150 words about one word. If you have a philologist in your life, that won’t surprise you. If you don’t… well, count your blessings, I guess.

Mirrored from Ambrose & Elsewhere.