Illustrated Companion to the Latin Dictionary/Cinaedus

Illustrated Companion to the Latin Dictionary, and Greek Lexicon (Rich, 1849)

CINAEDUS (κίναιδος). A dancing-master, who taught the art of dancing in a school (Scipio Afr. ap. Macrob. Sat. ii. 10. Non. s. v. p. 5. Plaut. Mil. iii. 73.); for in early times, while this kind of exercise was confined to religious and warlike dances, it was not esteemed unbecoming; but with the corruption of manners, when mimetic and lascivious dances were introduced upon the stage, the name was likewise given to the performers in these exhibitions, and thence, in a more indefinite meaning, it became a term of reproach for any one who indulged in the indelicate propensities for which the stage dancers were notorious.