I think the Brasenose fuck was considered the earliest in 1993, and that's quite outdated now. Skip to main content.ca Hello, Sign in. Likewise, “golf” didn’t spring to life out of “Gentlemen only; ladies forbidden,” and “posh” did not take its place in our vocabulary from a shortening of “Port out; starboard home.”, Sightings:   The rock group Van Halen put out an album entitled “For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge.”. In order to find out the truth, I fired up the old computer and did a little online reading. While simplifying our lives recently (shown HERE), I came across the letters I earned in junior high (a “C”) and high school (an “F”). Snopes and the Snopes.com logo are registered service marks of Snopes.com. The following question isn't something I could send to Action Line, but I've always wanted to know: what is the origin of the "F" word? The American Heritage Dictionary says its first known occurrence in English literature was in the satirical poem "Flen, Flyss" around 1500. it's impossible to say precisely when because so little documentary evidence exists, probably due to the fact that the word was so taboo throughout its early history that people were afraid to write it down. In plain English, this means the term’s origin is likely Germanic, even though no one can as yet point to the precise word it came down to us from out of all the possible candidates. I am asking that you join me. Something for everyone interested in hair, makeup, style, and body positivity. It was believed that unless a person was in the Royal Family, they were not permitted to have sex and would have to seek permission from the King in the event they wanted to have a baby. I told him I thought he was really overthinking it. With precious few exceptions, words of acronymic origin date from the 20th century and no earlier. The word 'fuck' derives from an acronymic phrase, either 'For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge' or 'Fornication Under Consent of the King.'. According to this origin, adulterers locked the stocks in village squares sported ‘FUCK’ around their necks as did rapists walking around in prison yards. Download one of the Free Kindle apps to start reading Kindle books on your smartphone, tablet, and computer. Unable to add item to Wish List. - Fornication Under Consent of the King (This indicated in England during the middle ages you could only have intercourse if the King first gave you permission. You rely on Snopes, and we rely on you. (1)It stands for "fornication under consent of the king," which was supposedly tacked up over the doors of government-approved brothels in early England. However, this is generally assumed to mean 'to strike' and can be compared with the Anglo-Norman surname Butevilein meaning 'to strike the churl or wretch' ('vilein' being related to the English villain which originally meant a person of a lower status). But here's the biggest reason the F-word isn't an acronym — it's most likely. Sorry dude. So the place-names here kind of have fuck in them by a circuitous route and are possibly the earliest instance of fuck in English. But even if we DO agree to discount those two little exceptions, it's still not the earliest instance. To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Seems both these theories have been debunked over the years and the word “Fuck” isn’t an acronym at all. **** has been around a lot longer. A friend told me it's an abbreviation of "For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge,'' which was supposedly stamped on the foreheads of couples who were locked up in the stocks for fornicating without benefit of matrimony. The book I mentioned is a look at sex in Shakespeare. Eric Partridge, in the 7th edition of Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English (Macmillan, 1970), said that “fuck” “almost certainly” comes from the Indo-European root *peuk- = “to prick” (which is the source of the English words “compunction”, “expunge”, “impugn”, “poignant”, “point”, “pounce”, “pugilist”, “punctuate”, “puncture”, “pungent”, and “pygmy”). Snopes cannot predict the future, but we can recognize false claims we have debunked in the past. One can fornicate premaritally or extramaritally, but not intramaritally. Joe Biden and Donald Trump met in Ohio for the first of four debates this election season. John Ayto, in his Dictionary of Word Origins cites a proper name (probably a joke or parody name) of ‘John le Fucker’ from 1250, quite possibly proof the word we casually toss about today was being similarly tossed about 750 years ago. Give me a break, doc. How utterly prosaic to find out ‘fuck’ came to us the way most words sneak into the language — it jumped the fence from another tongue, was spelled and pronounced a bit differently in its new home, and over time drifted into being a distinct word recognized by everyone.

You can sign in to vote the answer. This is going to be a little crude, folks, but let's try to keep a stiff upper lip. Kate Wiles has a Ph.D. in Medieval Studies with a background in Linguistics and historical languages. Join Yahoo Answers and get 100 points today. Fockynggroue -- Another place-name, from Bristol in 1373. William's 'fuck' is a new one and it's probably related to a fukke, a type of sail first cited in 1465. Fornication . Apparently I was athletic back then … go figure.

Some claim the F-word (sorry to have to resort to this lame expression, but you have no idea how tiresome it can be to type "****" a million times) is a truncation of "fecund." Anything that appears earlier is most likely to be the use of fuck to mean 'to strike.' - Forced Unlawful Carnal Knowledge (This indicates Rape) F.U.C.K. Prime members enjoy Free Two-Day Shipping, Free Same-Day or One-Day Delivery to select areas, Prime Video, Prime Music, Prime Reading, and more. The word did not originate in Christianized Anglo-Saxon England as an acronym of "Fornication Under Consent of King"; Modern English was not spoken until the 16th century, and words such as "fornication" and "consent" did not exist in any form in English until the influence of Anglo-Norman in the late 12th century. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. No really it is !! Professor Spears has amassed an awesome collection of synonyms for the generative act (under "occupy," p. 278, in case you're the type who likes to look up dirty words in reference books), including the following, which gives you an idea of the never-ending richness of the English language: bang, batter, beef, bumble, blow off the loose corns, bounce the brillo, dance the buttock jig, do a dive in the dark, flimp, flurgle, foin, foraminate, futz, get one's leather stretched, get one's nuts cracked, get one's oil changed, go bird's nesting, go bush-ranging, go like a rat up a rhododendron, go star-gazing on one's back, have a bun in the oven, have a game in the cock-loft, have a leap up the ladder, have hot pudding for supper, hide the ferret, hide the salami, hide the sausage, hive it, jazz it, knock it off, lay some pipe, light the lamp, lose the lamp and pocket the stake, make her grunt, mix one's peanut butter, palliardize, pestle, pheeze, pizzle, play cars and garages, plow, plug, plook, ram, rasp, ride below the crupper, shoot between wind and water, strop one's beak, varnish one's cane, wet one's wick, wind the clock, and work the hairy oracle--some 675 synonyms in all.

Forbidden Under Charter of the King (a sign posted on brothels closed by the Crown), File Under Carnal Knowledge (how Scotland Yard marked rape files). The more you know...]. Is everyone's favorite swear actually an acronym? Instances of fuck before the 15th century are rare. The origins of the word, however, are somewhat murky. The coded poem mentioned above from 1475 called Fleas, Flies and Friars in which 'fucking' appears as follows: Which, decoded reads: 'fuccant uuiuys of heli'. Spurious etymologies such as this one satisfy our urge for completion — we want to believe such a naughty word has a salacious back story, something replete with stocks and adulterers, or fornication permits handed out by a king. New York: Arcade Publishing, 1990. It was believed that unless a person was in the Royal Family, they were not permitted to have sex and would have to seek permission from the King in the event they wanted to have a baby.

Ph.D. in Medieval Studies, researcher, writer, language consultant, Sign up for membership to become a founding member and help shape HuffPost's next chapter, Register to vote and apply for an absentee ballot today. it was written on the doors of prison cells for rapists and 'fornicators' awaiting the death sentence. We hold major institutions accountable and expose wrongdoing. Okay, so the word didn’t come to us from an acronym; where did it come from then? It's a name akin to Lovegrove rather than one which uses the Old English personal name Focca which appears in the place-name Fockbury, or from Old English Folca as in Folkestone. Ayto, John. January and Dax briefly wondered if this was true before basically being like: While January and Dax were happy to move on, I was not! I've heard a number of variations of the "****-as-acronym" story, none of which, in my opinion (and that of most linguists), is even remotely likely: (1) It stands for "fornication under consent of the king," which was supposedly tacked up over the doors of government-approved brothels in early England. There is the Middle Dutch fokken, meaning "to thrust, copulate with"; Norwegian dialect Furja: "to copulate"; and Swedish dialect focka, meaning "to strike, push, copulate", not to mention the German "ficken". We get a clue here as to the level of delicacy and tenderness that has characterized the sex act down through the ages, and which is recalled by the charming epithet "**** you.". This folk lore started circulating in the early 1960’s. If vampires were real would you marry one? These supposed acronyms tend to come with explanatory backstories. Meh, it’s just a word … and it’s now hanging on my wall. And in 1680 by John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester in a book of what sounds like LOVELY poems: 'Thus was I Rook'd of Twelve substantial Fucks'. He was convinced it originated in merry old England standing for “Fornication Under Command of the King” (or “Consent” as some believe). Still have questions? Search, watch, and cook every single Tasty recipe and video ever - all in one place! Disappointing.

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