fascinating stuff

Eve Jones asks what the fascination is with the phallus

(Younger in the field, May issue). She might be interested to know that the word “fascination” comes from fascinum or

fascinus, meaning charm/hex/ spell. It also means penis or phallus, although mentula is another Latin term for the male member so fascinus seems to refer more to the erect member. James Cope, Blairgowrie, Perthshire