Definition of scrotum

The word "scrotum" derives from the Old English word scrōt, which in turn comes from the Proto-Germanic skirtōn- or skrottōn-, meaning "bag" or "pouch." This root is also evident in similar Old Norse and Old High German words, such as skröttr and scrōtar, respectively. The Old English word was applied to several parts of the body, including the sac that holds the testicles in male mammals, as well as the pouch that holds their newborns, such as in the case of some primates and marsupials. Over time, the meaning of the word became more specific to the scrotum in male mammals, as evidenced by Old French texts from the 12th century that used scrōt("escrote" in their modern French) in this context. The Latin equivalent of scrotum was scrotum, which was also adopted into medical Latin and eventually into English as a scientific term. The meaning became even more specialized with the English borrowing of Latin's vesiculum, meaning "little bladder," which came to refer specifically to the part of the male reproductive organ called the seminal vesicle. Interestingly, the meaning of the English word "scrotum" has undergone some perceived euphemism over time, as people have tried to come up with less obscene names for it. In the 16th century, the word "cod" was coined to refer to the scrotum, possibly as a nod to the old English word hǪg Cleopǣrd, meaning "bag or linen container," which was commonly used to hang female sheep in the Old English period. Another misguided contemporary term is "gooseberry" or "haggis," a dish commonly consisting of sheep's offal, but these are unlikely to be adopted as euphemisms for scrotum. Today, the term "scrotum" remains unchanged and is generally accepted as a standard term in anatomic discourse.