John Dalmas Responds to Robert Peters:

>>Being a native German I instantly understood the phrase "mein Unterleib"
>>to be a euphemism.  Beethoven wouldn't have been too shy to write things
>>like "mein Magen" if he really meant his abdomen.
>
>Not so much a euphemism as it is an example of synecdoche (a whole standing
>for a part).  "Unterleib" might refer to "anything down there," from the
>bladder to the uterus (in a woman) to . . .  well, you get the point.
>I think it's fair to say though that without more context the remark by
>itself offers no evidence Beethoven was referring to any specific organ.

Thanks to what we know about his usual complaints, year after year for more
than 35 years, it's fair to say that he was referring to his troublesome
gut.

Joyce Maier (mail to: [log in to unmask] or [log in to unmask] or [log in to unmask])
www.ademu.com/Beethoven