Annotations to James Joyce's Ulysses/Cyclops/292
Annotations
[edit | edit source]corpora cavernosa (Latin) cavernous bodies.[1] Corpora cavernosa is the anatomical name for two masses of erectile tissue in the penis; a penile erection occurs when the cavities in these bodies (and in a third body, the corpus spongiosum penis) fill with blood and become distended.
in articulo mortis per diminutionem capitis (Latin) at the moment of death caused by the decrease of the head.[2] Bloom's medical Latin is improvised; capitis diminutio is actually a legal term meaning the loss of one's political rights, whereas Bloom means the breaking of the neck (per frangentem cervicis).