Abstract

W. D. Furley, ‘Phaidra's pleasurable aidos ’, CQ 46, 84–90 is in part a response to my article, ‘ in Euripides’ Hippolytos 373–430: review and reinterpretation’, JHS 113, 45–59. Furley states that I suggest that aidos is ‘a euphemism for aidoia, the genitals, thus = sex’. This is an over-simplification. I argue that ‘in this context, is a euphemistic metonymy for ’; that ‘in terms of linguistic use, may be viewed as the natural reaction to the … just as is to ; and hence that ‘the linguistic associations and semantic nuances of are sufficient to allow the word, in appropriate contexts, to mean “sex”’.