I am basically writing an intercourse scene between two characters in a medieval-like setting, so the tone of the book is slightly medieval as well. Now, while I have found plenty of synonyms for the male body parts, I'm having difficulties with the female ones. For some reason, all synonyms in the English language for "vagina" sound rather off-putting.
I cannot use "vulva" because it sounds too clinical (same with "vagina"). "Womb" makes me think of motherhood (which is the last thing I want to come to the readers' minds while reading these scenes) or animals. "Gash" sounds like it would be better used to describe flesh wounds. "Hole" sounds very ominous and generic. Other words like "pussy" or "c*nt" are too slang-ish, even offensive. And euphemism like "love cave" or "Cupid's hole" or anything along those lines sound very childish and even humorous. I was considering "slit" for a while but even that brings slang to mind. I was even considering some sort of milder euphemisms, such as "the wetness between her thighs" but they have already been used in other similar works so I'd rather not.
Just to clarify, I don't need a synonym for a particular part of the female genitalia, just for it as a whole.
Any suggestions?
Best Answer
You might try an authentically medieval English word or two. Chaucer’s Wife of Bath boasts of her own at line 608 of her Prologue:
Elsewhere (e.g., Merchant's Tale, line 2061), Chaucer quibbles on queynte as (a) curious, odd, arcane, and (b) female pudendum (cognate with cunt); at Miller’s Tale 3276–77 he uses these two meanings separately, rhyming the word with itself. Queynt is also a variant reading for quoniam or quonyam in the Wife of Bath’s boast.