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Good grief, the things we *didn't* cover at school! Tillw's (phone doesn't seem to fancy the Greek alphabet - or I haven't found it) such a useful verb. So practical, the Greeks...

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Download ‘hoplite’ font if you want Greek...

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I have seen the spelling Ypsithilla (aut sim.) in earlier editions (which is probably coincidental).

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ὕψι-τίλλω, “pluck the top of the pubic mound”. Perhaps courtesan’s best practice.

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Wow! Now that is recherché. And unknown to LSJ, of course. Also, it seems, more and more the modern practice.

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Yes, a curious little jeu d'esprit and, I think, 'vers occasionels" (one can imagine C. coming out with it at a dinner-party). I have always thought that he is playing on the word 'osculatio', recently employed by Cicero in the 'Pro Caelio' (itself possibly a mock-learned medical allusion?) Note also the naughty alliteration of 'b' and 'p' throughout (cf. 'glubit'!)

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He’s also happy to coin basiatio in 7, as you know, and enjoys talking about the bed’s argutatio inambulatioque in 6. Mock learned all!

No one seems to have thought of ὕψος plus τίλλω. A short article beckons on the aesthetic advantages of plucking the mound.

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