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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