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hircine (HUR-sayn, HUR-sin) - adj., of, relating to, or resembling a goat, esp. resembling a goat in smell or in lechery.
The goat-smell is the most common comparison given in dictionaries, who often jump to just listing another definition as lustful/libidinous. Note that caprine, also "of, relating to, or resembling goats," does not have the lustful sense. This one dates not, like so many Latin adoptions, not from the mid-17th century, but to Middle English (in the form hircyne), from Latin hircīnus, of a goat / goat-scented, from hircus, male goat.
---L.
The goat-smell is the most common comparison given in dictionaries, who often jump to just listing another definition as lustful/libidinous. Note that caprine, also "of, relating to, or resembling goats," does not have the lustful sense. This one dates not, like so many Latin adoptions, not from the mid-17th century, but to Middle English (in the form hircyne), from Latin hircīnus, of a goat / goat-scented, from hircus, male goat.
---L.
