I was amused by TPM Reader ST‘s claim that we were exhibiting overly delicate sensibilities by treating Trump’s “pussy” comments as a denigrating reference to female genitalia. But other readers are not amused at all and have emailed at length on the linguistic origins of the slur:
TPM Reader ML points us to an impassioned takedown (which I posted originally as if ML has written it–entirely my mistake). Go read it.
Several readers referred to this Slate podcast.
TPM Reader BA:
I would disagree with reader ST’s statement on the origins of this word. I’m neither a linguist nor an expert in the history of English, but as a librarian I know how to check a reference work.
Looking at the Oxford English Dictionary, which most consider the gold standard of historical dictionaries of the English language, the word’s history in written English goes back as early as the late 17th century, used as “coarse slang” to mean, “The female genitals; the vulva or vagina”:
As Fleet as my Feet Could convey me I sped;
To Johnny who many Times Pussey had fed.
–T. D’Urfey (1699)The etymology of the word seems, again according to the OED, to be exactly what most people think it is: the diminutive of puss, meaning “a conventional proper or pet name for a cat.” OED remarks that its origina is, “Apparently a word inherited from Germanic,” and points to cognates in Dutch, Low German, and the Scandinavian languages.
Whereas “pusillanimous” is derived from the Latin, pusillanimis, by way of the French. Perhaps introduced, as so many words were, during or immediately after the Norman conquest. I see no evidence in the OED that there is any historical relationship between the two.
The fact that “pussilanimous” means “cowardly” and “pussy” can be used to mean the same thing (though in a completely different register) is likely a coincidence.
TPM Reader M:
TPM Reader ST is either dishonest or badly out of touch.
I’ve NEVER heard anybody say calling someone ‘pussy’ is just a shortened version of pussillanimous. That’s ridiculous.It’s a crude playground taunt – boys have been calling weaker boys ‘girls’, pussy, ‘faggot’ similar crude names for hundreds of years. It is the old SNL ‘Girly Man’ insult.
It means you’re soft, weak, not a man, and it most certainly does refer to female genitalia.Come on dude. Pussillanimous? Who ever even thinks of a word like that.
Let’s dispel with the whole ‘pussillanimous’ tale right away…
