Well, I belong to a bunch of lists but can never recall this subject being
discussed before now.  History in school never dealt with it either - nor
was the course, at that time, this interesting!   The things we learn in
genealogy!!

Diane in TX


----- Original Message -----
From: "Randy Cabell" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, January 06, 2007 12:23 PM
Subject: Re: [VA-HIST] origin of the eff-word


> What a varied menu one gets with VA-HIST.  I recall two recent so-called
> origins of the eff word.  Having said that, I cannot recall the first one
> which I think came from the German.
>
> The second is based on a legend that at some point in English History,
> fornication required the consent of the king.  And when he gave it, the
> couple would hang out a sign which said:
> "Fornication Under Consent of the King", and as we do so today with
> instant
> messaging, this was shortened, in this case to just the four letters of
> the
> major words.
>
> An interesting story, but I have nothing further on it.  If I can recall
> the
> other explanation, I'll forward that.
>
> Randy Cabell
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Melinda Skinner" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Saturday, January 06, 2007 12:47 PM
> Subject: Re: [VA-HIST] origin of the eff-word
>
>
>> From Wikepedia:
>>
>> ETYMOLOGY
>> Reputable sources such as the Oxford English Dictionary contend the true
>> etymology of f**k is still uncertain but appears to point to an
>> Anglo-Saxon 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 fuck reads "Non
>> sunt in coeli, quia gxddbov xxkxzt pg ifmk". Removing the substitution
>> cipher on the phrase "gxddbov xxkxzt pg ifmk" yields "non sunt in coeli,
>> quia fvccant vvivys of heli", which translated means "they are not in
>> heaven because they f**k the wives of Ely" (fvccant is a fake Latin
>> form).[2] 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 jeba?, Serbian ?????? (jebati)), among others:
>> compare Greek "oiphô", 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, f**k
>> 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.
>> FALSE ETYMOLOGIES
>> One reason that the word f**k is so hard to trace etymologically is that
>> it was used far more extensively in common speech than in easily
>> traceable
>> written forms.
>> There are several urban-legend false etymologies postulating an acronymic
>> origin for the word. None of these acronyms was ever heard before the
>> 1960s, according to the authoritative lexicographical work, The F-Word,
>> and thus are backronyms. In any event, the word f**k has been in use far
>> too long for some of these supposed origins to be possible.
>> One such legend holds that the word f**k came from Irish law. If a couple
>> were caught committing adultery, they would be punished "For Unlawful
>> Carnal Knowledge In the Nude", with "F**KIN" written on the stocks above
>> them to denote the crime.
>> Other explanations for f**k as an acronym for adultery offer alternative
>> wordings, such as "Fornication Under Carnal/Cardinal Knowledge," or
>> "Fornication Under [the] Control/Consent/Command of the King." Variations
>> on this theme include, "Fornication Under the Christian King", "False Use
>> of Carnal Knowledge", "Felonious Use of Carnal Knowledge", "Felonious
>> Unlawful Carnal Knowledge", "Full-On Unlawful Carnal Knowledge", and
>> "Found Under Carnal Knowledge"; and the closely related variant, "Forced
>> Unlawful Carnal Knowledge" - a label supposedly applied to the crime of
>> rape.
>> In some reports, there are tombstones around English cemeteries that had
>> the word engraved in uppercase letters. These referred to those who were
>> put to death for crimes against the state and the church. These reports
>> have yet to be corroborated since no such tombstone has been identified.
>> Another story is that it was written in the log book as F**K when people
>> in the military or navy who had homosexual intercourse were being
>> punished.[citation needed]
>>
>>
>> --
>> Melinda C. P. Skinner
>> Writer and Wonderer
>>
>> -------------- Original message ----------------------
>> From: Diane Ethridge <[log in to unmask]>
>>> My son was a Legal Assistant in the USMC for 5 years & was assigned to
>>> one
>>> of the top Lawyers in the Corps.   He was told that the word is an
>>> acronym
>>> for "Felonius Unlawful Carnal Knowledge" - to file in the "for what it's
>>> worth" Dept.
>>>
>>> Diane in TX
>>>
>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>> From: "Sunshine49" <[log in to unmask]>
>>> To: <[log in to unmask]>
>>> Sent: Saturday, January 06, 2007 9:09 AM
>>> Subject: [VA-HIST] origin of the eff-word
>>>
>>>
>>> More than you ever wanted to know, I'm sure, but a friend went on a
>>> tear and had to find out how old the word was (someone had told her
>>> it was strictly 20th Century)...
>>>
>>> Nancy
>>> > 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. Further, a few scholars hold differing pet  theories
>>> > outside
>>> > of the Germanic origin one, theories which appear  to have some holes
>>> > in
>>> > them.
>>> >
>>> > 'F*ck' is an old word, even if it's been an almost taboo term for
>>> > most
>>> > of
>>> > its existence. It was around and has been recorded in  English since
>>> > the
>>> > 15th Century; it just wasn't used in common  speech all that much, let
>>> > alone written down and saved for  posterity. Likely its meaning
>>> > contributed to its precise origin  becoming lost in the mists of
>>> > time -
>>> > scholars of old would have  been in no hurry to catalogue the growth
>>> > of
>>> > this word, and by the  time it forced its way into even the most
>>> > respectable of  dictionaries, its parentage was long forgotten.
>>> >
>>> > The earliest cite in The Oxford English Dictionary dates from 1503.
>>> > John
>>> > Ayto, in his Dictionary of Word Origins cites a proper name  (probably
>>> > a
>>> > joke or parody name) of 'John le F*cker' from 1250,  quite possibly
>>> > proof
>>> > the word we casually toss about today was  being similarly tossed
>>> > about
>>> > 750 years ago.
>>>
>>>
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