On Wed, Apr 10, 2002 at 12:54:03AM -0500, String Theory wrote:
quoted 7 lines Nope, it's much much older than English. It dates back to the proto
> Nope, it's much much older than English. It dates back to the proto
> German/English language spoken (i believe) by the Angles, if not
> before. Fuck is a whole lot older than acronyms, and probably even
> older than written language itself. Check the O.E.D if you don't
> believe it...
>
> Josh
I did in fact just check the OED (having a handy institutional subscription
available). I thought people might be entertained so here is what it says:
Etymology:
[Early mod.E fuck, fuk, answering to a ME. type *fuken (wk. vb.) not found;
ulterior etym. unknown. Synonymous G. ficken cannot be shown to be related.]
ME = Middle English (spoken approx. 1100AD-1500AD, the language of Chaucer),
mod.E = modern english etym. = etymology, G. = german, wk. vb. = weak verb i.e.
regular verb
The sense of the word has remained remarkably unchanged since the relevent
period. They also comment that it is difficult to find in printed form having
been somewhat taboo as long as it has been around. There is more that can be
said about this etymology but what they have given here is really all that can
be reliably establashed. Some more information (as well as comments on other b
acronyms) at:
http://www.urbanlegends.com/language/etymology/fuck/
The earliest examples they give for the verbal form are:
(fuck, V.)
Sense 1, transitive verb: a1503 DUNBAR Poems lxxv. 13 Be his feiris he wald
haue fukkit.
Sense 3, intensifier: a1568 A. SCOTT Poems iv. 55 Thir foure, the suth to sane,
Enforsis thame to fucking.
(fuck, N.)
Sense 1, act of copulation: 1680 ANON. in Rochester's Poems on Several
Occasions (1950) 37 Thus was I Rook'd of
Twelve substantial Fucks.
(fucker, as in someone who fucks)
1598 FLORIO Worlde of Wordes 137/1 Fottitore, a iaper, a sarder, a swiver, a
fucker, an occupier.
For both the noun and verb forms there's a bunch of other slightly different
senses that only are attested textually in the 1900s, so I left them out.
There's also an old insult 'windfucker' or 'fuck-wind' which was also the name
for a kind of bird. Here is an example:
1602 Narcissus MS. Rawl. Poet. 212, lf. 80, I tell you, my little windfuckers,
had not a certaine melancholye ingendred with a nippinge dolour overshadowed
the sunne shine of my mirthe, I had beene I pre, sequor, one of your consorte.
-Kyle R
--
http://mas.cs.umass.edu/~rawlins
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I am a real worm, I am an actual worm.
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