OFF: Swearing

[Carl E. Anderson]

On tis 2 dec 1997 23.32 +0800 "William Duffy" <xl5 at IINET.NET.AU> wrote:
> I've always wondered about when certain swear words may have actually
come
> in to use. For instance, whether the 'f' word was actually used during
the
> time of William Wallace, or was it just added to the movie dialogue to
make
> its use more colourful?

     Well, it undoubtedly predates Wallace, though whether anyone might
have used it in that context is debateable.  It's earliest recorded use is
borrowed into Latin to describe the impious conduct of some monks--at Ely,
I think, actually.
     It might have been there used not so much as an obscenity in the
modern sense, but as a secular word to underline the improperly secular
activity of the monks.

Cheers,
Carl

ObCD: BOC _Secret Treaties_

--
Carl Edlund Anderson
Dept. of Anglo-Saxon, Norse, & Celtic
St. John's College, University of Cambridge
mailto:cea20 at cus.cam.ac.uk
http://hea-www.harvard.edu/~carl/