Editing Inuus (section)

{{Short description|Roman god}}
{{Ancient Roman religion}}
In [[Religion in ancient Rome|ancient Roman religion]], '''Inuus''' ({{IPA|la-x-classic|ˈɪnuʊs|lang|link=yes}}) was a god, or aspect of a god, who embodied [[sexual intercourse]]. The evidence for him as a distinct entity is scant. [[Maurus Servius Honoratus]] wrote that Inuus is an [[epithet]] of [[Faunus]] (Greek [[Pan (god)|Pan]]), named from his habit of intercourse with animals, based on the [[etymology]] of ''ineundum'', "a going in, penetration," from ''[[wikt:inire|inire]]'',<ref>See the [[infinitive]] form ''[[wiktionary:inire|inire]]''; ''ineundum'' is a [[gerund]].</ref> "to enter" in the sexual sense.<ref>[[Maurus Servius Honoratus]], note on ''[[Aeneid]]'' 6.775; Julian Ward Jones, Jr., ''An'' Aeneid'' Commentary of Mixed Type: The Glosses in Mss Harley 4946 and Ambrosianus G111 inf.'' (Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 1996), pp. 24, 31–32.</ref> Other names for the god were '''Fatuus''' and '''Fatuclus''' (with a short ''a'').

[[Walter Friedrich Otto]] disputed the traditional etymology and derived ''Inuus'' instead from ''in-avos'', "friendly, beneficial" (cf. ''aveo'', "to be eager for, desire"), for the god's fructifying power.<ref>Katherine Nell MacFarlane, "Isidore of Seville on the Pagan Gods (''Origines'' VIII. 11)," ''Transactions of the American Philosophical Society'' 70 (1980), p. 36, citing Otto's entry on Faunus in ''[[Realencyclopädie der Classischen Altertumswissenschaft|PW]]''.</ref>