http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fu*k
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Etymology
Reputable sources such as the
Oxford English Dictionary contend the true
etymology of "****" is still uncertain but appears to point to an
Anglo-Saxon origin. Early modern English
****,
fuk, answering to a
Middle English type *
fuken (weak verb) was not found, and ultimate etymology is unknown. As far as it is accepted, synonymous
German ficken may or may not be related. It would point to a common
Germanic origin.
The first known occurrence, in
code, is in a poem composed in a mixture of
Latin and English sometime before
1500. The poem, which satirizes the
Carmelite friars of
Cambridge, England, takes its title, "
Flen flyys", from the first words of its opening line, "Flen, flyys, and freris"; that is, "Fleas, flies, and friars". The line that contains
**** reads "Non sunt in coeli, quia gxddbov xxkxzt pg ifmk". The Latin words "Non sunt in coeli, quia", mean "They [the friars] are not in heaven, because". The code "gxddbov xxkxzt pg ifmk" is easily broken by simply
substituting the preceding letter in the alphabet, keeping in mind differences in the alphabet and in spelling between then and now:
i was then used for both
i and
j;
v was used for both
u and
v; and two
vs were used for
w. This yields "fvccant (a fake Latin form) vvivys of heli". The whole thus reads in translation: "They are not in heaven because they **** wives of
Ely" (a city near Cambridge). (Available, with minor adjustments to the translation, at
The American Heritage Dictionary, 4th Edition). The phrase was coded because of its meaning; it is uncertain to what extent the word itself was considered acceptable.
Other possible connections are to Latin
futuere (hence the
French foutre, the
Catalan fotre, the
Italian fottere, the
Romanian fute, the vulgar peninsular
Spanish follar and
joder, and the
Portuguese foder). However, there is considerable doubt and no clear lineage for these derivations. These roots, even if
cognate, are not the original Indo-European word for
to copulate; that root is likely *
h3yebh-, ("
h3" is the H3
laryngeal) which is attested in
Sanskrit (
yabhati) and the
Slavic languages (
Russian yebat`,
Polish jebać,
Serbian јебати (
jebati)), among others: compare Greek "oiphô" (verb), and Greek "zephyros" (noun, ref. a Greek belief that the west wind caused pregnancy). However,
Wayland Young (who agrees that these words are related) argues that they derive from the Indo-European *
bhu- or *
bhug-, believed to be the root of "to be", "to grow", and "to build". [Young, 1964]
Spanish
follar has a different root; according to Spanish etymologists, the Spanish verb "follar" (attested in the
19th century) derives from "fuelle" (bellows) from Latin
folle(m) < Indo-European *
bhel-; ancient Spanish verb folgar (attested in the
15th century) derived from Latin
follicare, also ultimately from
follem/follis.
A possible etymology is suggested by the fact that the Common Germanic
fuk-, by an application of
Grimm's law, would have as its most likely
Indo-European ancestor *
pug-, which appears in Latin and
Greek words meaning "fight" and "fist". In early Common Germanic the word was likely used at first as a slang or euphemistic replacement for an older word for "intercourse", and then became the usual word for "intercourse". Then,
**** has cognates in other Germanic languages, such as
Middle Dutch fokken (to thrust, copulate, or to breed), dialectical Norwegian
fukka (to copulate), and dialectical
Swedish focka (to strike, copulate) and
fock (penis).
There is perhaps even an original
Celtic derivation;
futuere being related to
battuere (to strike, to copulate); which may be related to
Irish bot and Manx
bwoid (
penis). The argument is that
battuere and
futuere (like the Irish and Manx words) comes from the Celtic
*bactuere (to pierce), from the root
buc- (a point). Or perhaps Latin
futuere came from the root
fu, Common Indo-European
bhu, meaning "be, become" and originally referred to procreation.
[
edit]
False etymologies
One reason why the word "****" is so hard to trace etymologically is because it was widely used by poor or lower class people, much like it is today but on a more extreme level. Because English was written by oligarch's until around 1800-1900, and because one was unlikely to hear the King of England say, "**** you France!", it is hard to trace.
There are several
urban-legend false etymologies postulating an
acronymic origin for the word. One legend holds that the word "****" came from Irish law. If a couple were caught committing
adultery they would be punished "For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge", with "****" written on the
stocks above them to denote the crime. Alternative explanations for "****" as an acronym for adultery pin it as "Fornication Under Cardinal/Carnal Knowledge," or "Fornication Under [the] Control/Consent/Command of the King." Another story is that it was written in the log book as "****" when people in the military or navy who had homosexual intercourse were being punished. Variants of this include "Found Under Carnal Knowledge", "For Using Carnal Knowledge", "Felonious Use of Carnal Knowledge", "Fornication Under the Christian King", "Full Unlawful Carnal Knowledge", "False Use of Carnal Knowledge" and "Forced Unlawful Carnal Knowledge", a label supposedly applied to the crime of
rape.
08-23-2006, 03:03 PM
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