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Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history <[log in to unmask]>
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Sat, 6 Jan 2007 10:09:09 -0500
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Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history <[log in to unmask]>
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Sunshine49 <[log in to unmask]>
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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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