This article investigates the problem of the etymological connection between the Greek word ὀμείχω ‘to urinate’ and the agent noun μοιχός ‘adulterer’, the semantics of which has often been termed improbable. It is pointed out that the connection might be made more probable when analyzing the Latin data: the verb meiō, -ere ‘to urinate’ and its meaning in the Latin texts, which is not always restricted to ‘urinating’ but is also used as an obscene word meaning ‘to ejaculate’. We can then postulate that μοιχός was an agent noun of ὀμείχω in the meaning of ‘to ejaculate’ and this way as ‘adulterer’.

This article investigates the problem of the etymological connection between the Greek word ὀμείχω ‘to urinate’ and the agent noun μοιχός ‘adulterer’, the semantics of which has often been termed improbable. It is pointed out that the connection might be made more probable when analyzing the Latin data: the verb meiō, -ere ‘to urinate’ and its meaning in the Latin texts, which is not always restricted to ‘urinating’ but is also used as an obscene word meaning ‘to ejaculate’. We can then postulate that μοιχός was an agent noun of ὀμείχω in the meaning of ‘to ejaculate’ and this way as ‘adulterer’.