lingam
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Forms: form: lingams
form: linga
Etymology: Learned borrowing from Sanskrit लिङ्गम् (liṅgam, nominative singular of लिङ्ग (liṅga, “sign, mark”)).
Senses: examples: text: Then we have the very numerous lingams (conventional representations of the male organ) to be seen, scores and scores of them, in the arcades and cloisters of the Hindu Temples - to which women of all classes, especially those who wish to become mothers, resort, anointing them copiously with oil, and signalizing their respect and devotion to them in a very practical way.
ref: 1920, Edward Carpenter, Pagan and Christian Creeds, New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co., published 1921, page 182:
text: Caylus presents Pan in the act of pouring water upon the male member; that is, invigorating the creative power by the application of the prolific element upon which it acted. In India, it was customary to pour sacred water from the Ganges upon the Lingam, the symbol of Siva.
ref: 1941, George Ryley Scott, Phallic Worship: A History of Sex and Sex Rites in Relation to the Religions of All Races from Antiquity to the Present Day, London: T. Werner Laurie, page 27:
coordinate_terms: yoni
glosses: The aniconic phallic representation traditionally worshipped as a symbol of or in connection with Shiva.
examples: text: This compound, when applied to the lingam, results in sexual dominance.
ref: 1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 69:
text: When the sages saw the great god Siva so haggard and sad, they treated him with scorn and saluted him only with bent heads.
Sica^([sic – meaning Siva]), tired and weary, asked only for "alms". Thus the god went about begging along the roads of Darauvanam.
As the women looked at him, they felt a pang in their heart. Their minds were perturbed and their hearts agitated by the sensations of love. They forsook the beds of the sages and followed Siva.
As the sages saw their wives following Siva, they pronounced a curse upon him;
"May his lingam fall to the ground."
ref: 1993, Hilton Hotema, Son of Perfection, Pomeroy, Washington: Health Research, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 50, →ISBN:
text: He still enjoys a tumble with her now as much as when they were youngsters, his voice cracking and his lingam a sprout that seemed never to get soft.
ref: 2008, John Speed, Tiger Claws: A Novel of India, New York: St. Martin's Press, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 139, →ISBN:
text: I gaze into the starry void, into Dominique’s eyes, into the blackness behind my own sealed eyelids as her lips envelop my lingam, and I feel a feedback channel opening between this creature of obsession and the dormant natural man.
ref: 2011, Norman Spinrad, The Void Captain's Tale, United Kingdom: Orion, →ISBN, →ISBN:
text: Once both partners have felt the connection it is up to the woman to give the signal that permission to enter has been granted. She may whisper her invitation to enter, use her hands to guide his lingam, or press against him, causing his lingam to open her.
ref: 2013, Anaiya Sophia, Sacred Sexual Union: The Alchemy of Love, Power, and Wisdom, Rochester: Inner Traditions, →ISBN, →OCLC, →ISBN:
glosses: The penis.
Derived terms: jyotirlinga
lingamic
lingam massage