# draucus
## Latin
### Etymology

Unknown. Likely borrowed, possibly from Gaulish.

### Pronunciation

* (Classical Latin) IPA: /ˈdrau̯.kus/, [ˈd̪räu̯kʊs̠]
* (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA: /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 BaileyHe 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 lacertō1993 translation by D. R. Shackleton BaileyLesbian 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 BaileyIf, 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 BaileyNatta 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 BaileyThese 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.

#### 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.

#### Declension

Second-declension noun.

### 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

### Further reading

* “draucus” in volume 5, part 1, column 2067, line 47 in the Thesaurus Linguae Latinae (TLL Open Access), Berlin (formerly Leipzig): De Gruyter (formerly Teubner), 1900–present
* “draucus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
* draucus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.