The
classic term _cunnus_ for the external genitals was chiefly used by the
poets; it has been the etymological source of various European names for
this region, such as the old French _con_, which has now, however,
disappeared from literature while even in popular usage it has given place
to _lapin_ and similar terms. But there is always a tendency, marked in
most parts of the world, for the names of the external female parts to
become indecorous. Even in classic antiquity this part was the _pudendum_,
the part to be ashamed of, and among ourselves the mass of the
population, still preserving the traditions of primitive times, continue
to cherish the same notion.
The anatomy, anthropology, folk-lore, and terminology of the
external and to some extent the internal feminine sexual region
may be studied in the following publications, among others:
Ploss, _Das Weib_, vol. i, Chapter VI; Hyrtl, _Topographisches
Anatomie_, vol. ii, and other publications by the same scholarly
anatomist; W.J. Stewart Mackay, _History of Ancient Gynaecology_,
especially pp. 244-250; R. Bergh, "Symbolae ad Cognitionem
Genitalium Externorum Foeminearum" (in Danish),
_Hospitalstidende_, August, 1894; and also in _Monatshefte fuer
Praktische Dermatologie_, 1897.
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