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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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