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Inuus
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In ancient Roman religion, Inuus (Classical Latin: [ˈɪnuʊs]) 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), named from his habit of intercourse with animals, based on the etymology of ineundum, "a going in, penetration," from inire,[1] "to enter" in the sexual sense.[2] 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.[3]