It seems to me that “cullion” comes for the French “couillon”, meaning scrotum. Its roots are the Latin “coleus” and Greek “koleos”, leather bag, sheath and, amusingly, vagina. In modern French, “couillon” is used sometimes to indicate a person lacking in courage or stupid.
Laurent:
December 11th, 2009 at 6:44 am
I do agree. A “couillon” is mostly somebody lacking “couilles” (cojones, balls…). There is also the verb “couillonner” (like “Il s’est fait couillonner”) that means to trick, deceive. I also read once that “couillon” was used as a name for rabbits. Ecclesiastic authority finding this somewhat unsavory in everyday life talks, decided that those furry animals should be called “lapins” instead. That’s probably an (old) urban legend though.
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Alfredo Boeira:
November 27th, 2009 at 6:48 pm
It seems to me that “cullion” comes for the French “couillon”, meaning scrotum. Its roots are the Latin “coleus” and Greek “koleos”, leather bag, sheath and, amusingly, vagina. In modern French, “couillon” is used sometimes to indicate a person lacking in courage or stupid.
Laurent:
December 11th, 2009 at 6:44 am
I do agree. A “couillon” is mostly somebody lacking “couilles” (cojones, balls…). There is also the verb “couillonner” (like “Il s’est fait couillonner”) that means to trick, deceive. I also read once that “couillon” was used as a name for rabbits. Ecclesiastic authority finding this somewhat unsavory in everyday life talks, decided that those furry animals should be called “lapins” instead. That’s probably an (old) urban legend though.