past participle of prostituere (see prostitute (n.)). And of course there was prostituta, literally 'placed in front,' thus 'publicly exposed,' from the fem. The vulgar Roman word was scortum, literally 'skin, hide.' Another term was lupa, literally 'she-wolf' (preserved in Spanish loba, Italian lupa, French louve see wolf (n.)).

Among other languages, Greek porne 'prostitute' is related to pernemi 'sell,' with an original notion probably of a female slave sold for prostitution Latin meretrix is literally 'one who earns wages' (source of Irish mertrech, Old English miltestre 'whore, prostitute'). Welsh putain 'whore' is from French, probably via Middle English. of Vulgar Latin *puttus (but perhaps rather from Latin putidus 'stinking ' see poontang). Some equivalent words in other languages also derive from sources not originally pejorative, such as Bohemian nevestka, diminutive of nevesta 'bride ' Dutch deern, German dirne originally 'girl, lass, wench ' also perhaps Old French pute, perhaps literally 'girl,' fem. though the American revisers recommended the substitution of harlot as less gross. The word, with its derivatives, is now avoided polite speech its survival in literature, so as it survives, is due to the fact that it is a favorite word with Shakspere (who uses it, with its derivatives, 99 times) and is common in the authorized English version of the Bible. In Middle English with occasional plural forms horen, heoranna. Whore of Babylon is from Revelation xvii.1, 5, etc. A general term of abuse for an unchaste or lewd woman (without regard to money) from at least c.

The Old English vowel naturally would have yielded *hoor, which is the pronunciation in some dialects it might have shifted by influence of Middle English homonym hore 'physical filth, slime,' also 'moral corruption, sin,' from Old English horh. Whore itself is perhaps a Germanic euphemism for a word that has not survived. hors 'adulterer, fornicator,' also as a verb, horinon 'commit adultery'), probably etymologically 'one who desires,' from PIE root *ka- 'to like, desire,' which in other languages has produced words for 'lover friend.' *hōrā- (source also of Old Frisian hor 'fornication,' Old Norse hora 'adulteress,' Danish hore, Swedish hora, Dutch hoer, Old High German huora 'prostitute ' in Gothic only in the masc. 1530s spelling alteration (see wh-) of Middle English hore, from Old English hore 'prostitute, harlot,' from Proto-Germanic *hōran-, fem.

Babylon dictionary equivalent