OLOR A CUERNO QUEMADO

Illo abeunte femella est adulterata, sed antequam masculus veniret, ad fontem descenderat, ut se lavaret, ne masculus fetorem adulterii sentiret. [···] Masculus veniens et sentiens adulterii fetorem, inde volavit ...

Hace no mucho, descubrí en este relato, el 82 de la Gesta Romanorum, la metáfora del "hedor del adulterio" (fetorem adulterii o adulterii fetorem), como si l@s cónyuges traicionad@s pudieran oler la infidelidad de sus parejas. El hedor del adulterio o fetor adulterii también aparece en el relato 181 de la misma colección (...venit, et fetorem adulterii sentiens coram omnibus eam tanquam judex per sententiam latam occidit.).

Curiosamente, este mismo día he estado viendo el episodio 9 ("Anata no ie" - あなたの家 - "El lugar al que llamas hogar") de Vampire Princess Miyu, transposición postmoderna del Gato negro de Poe, en el que la esposa Saori se acerca a su marido, que ha estado de copas con una compañera de trabajo, al volver éste a casa: le olfatea por todo el cuerpo y se retira, tensa, crispada, diciéndole: "has estado con otra". Con la implicación implícita de que Saori ha notado que el esposo infiel huele a otra. Seguro que porque huele a licor, a pintalabios, a perfumes femeninos, o a las tres cosas. 

También recuerdo una canción de Eurovisión, "Drip Drop," interpretada por la cantante Safura, que se hace eco de este motivo, y donde este fetor adulterii u olor a cuerno quemado (nunca mejor dicho) que percibe el yo lírico es explícitamente olor a pintalabios:

Tell me where have you been?
Why are you late?
You smell like lipstick again
Come on, answer my question, 

say something
Why are you acting out?

Y es que hay cosas que nunca cambiarán. Aunque el ser humano se guía mucho más por los ojos que por la nariz, los aromas suelen dejarnos una impresión fortísima. Y, mientras hayan parejas, también habrá infidelidades, ¿o no?

THE EVOLUTION OF A METAPHOR

-- Scientific truth:
Ethanol depresses the central nervous system.

-- Anonymous, Emaré, 14th century (a messenger gets drunk, he is drugged in that manner, and he is unconscious): loss of reason / theft of reason:

He made hym well at ese and fyne,   
Bothe of brede, ale and wyne,
And that berafte hym hys reson.    (took away from him his reason)
                                                                       (or: stole his reason) 
When he was on slepe browght...
In modern English:
He was well at ease with bread, ale, and wine,
and lost his senses.
And when he was asleep...


-- William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Othello, 17th century (a young lieutenant falls from grace, having drunk too much on duty): theft of reason:

CASSIO:  I remember a mass of things, but nothing distinctly;
a quarrel, but nothing wherefore. O God, that men
should put an enemy in their mouths to steal away
their brains!

-- Eliza Cook, "The Sacrilegious Gamesters", 19th century (a young gambler is suddenly awakened from his intoxication): dethroning and reinstatement of reason:

But now the charm hath lost its spell, 
The heated fumes have passed; 
And banished reason to her throne, 
Usurped, advances fast.

- Anonymous, "The Student's Fall", 19th century (a lightweight young student is coaxed by his friends to drink): also dethroning of reason:

At length, by the persuasions of one of his dearest friends, he took the first glass, and finding that his spirits became more buoyant, he took another and another, until Alcohol usurped the throne from which Reason had fled abashed... and the proud scholar fell drunk upon the floor.



-- Sandra Dermark, "Star-Crossed Lieberecht", 21st century (a young Prussian lieutenant, prisoner of the Austrians, is given brandy as a truth drug and betrays state secrets): dethroning of reason by force, violently:

His sight was clouded, and the effect of liquor quenched the firelight of his reason. A coup d'état had taken place within his system.

--Sandra Dermark, "The Tragedy of Othello," 21st century (a young lieutenant falls from grace, having drunk too much on duty): dethroning of reason by force, violently:

CASSIO (doubtfully sipping):
This real amber nectar of a liquor
will thrust bright reason off
her rightful throne!