MESSAGE
| DATE | 2015-09-16 |
| FROM | Ruben Safir
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| SUBJECT | Subject: [NYLXS - HANGOUT] Being literate in the 1300's
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http://www.medievalists.net/2015/09/10/the-earliest-use-of-the-f-word-discovered/
The earliest use of the F-word discovered
September 10, 2015 By Medievalists.net
Roger Fuckbythenavel
‘Roger Fuckebythenavel’ as seen in the Cheshire County Court Rolls – TNA
CHES 29/23 – photo by Paul Booth
An English historian has come across the word ‘fuck’ in a court case
dating to the year 1310, making it the earliest known reference to the
swear word.
Dr Paul Booth of Keele University spotted the name in ‘Roger
Fuckebythenavele’ in the Chester county court plea rolls beginning
on December 8, 1310. The man was being named three times part of a
process to be outlawed, with the final mention coming on September 28, 1311.
Dr Booth believes that “this surname is presumably a nickname. I suggest
it could either mean an actual attempt at copulation by an inexperienced
youth, later reported by a rejected girlfriend, or an equivalent of the
word ‘dimwit’ i.e. a man who might think that that was the correct way
to go about it.”
Cheshire County Court Rolls - TNA CHES 29/23 - photo by Paul Booth
Cheshire County Court Rolls – TNA CHES 29/23 – photo by Paul Booth
Prior to Dr. Booth’s discovery, the previous earliest use of the word
was in them poem /Flen flyys/, written around 1475. It had a line that
read “fvccant vvivys of heli”, a Latin/English mix meaning “…they fuck
the wives of Ely”. Historians have come across earlier uses of the word
in medieval England, but have doubted that it was being used as a sexual
reference. For example, the name John le Fucker appears in 1278, but
this likely could be just a different spelling for the word ‘fulcher’
which means soldier.
In
his book, /The F Word/, Jesse Sheidlower explains “fuck is a word of
Germanic origin. It is related to words in several other Germanic
languages, such as Dutch, German, and Swedish, that have sexual meanings
as well as meaning such as ‘to strike’ or ‘to move back and forth’.”
Dr Paul Booth is the Honouray Senior Research Fellow in History at Keele
University and Co-Director of the Arts and Humanities Research Council
Project: Gascon Rolls, 1317-1468. He plans on publishing an article
about his discovery in the journal /Notes and Queries/.
See also: *By God’s Bones: Medieval Swear Words*
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