Re: virus: Language

Eva-Lise Carlstrom (eva-lise@efn.org)
Tue, 31 Mar 1998 15:38:53 -0800 (PST)


On Wed, 25 Mar 1998, FallAwake wrote:

> i could have a long discussion about the etymology of the swears. when i
> turned thirteen four months ago i got a book bout the etymology of words.
it
> turns out fuck was action crusaders would do with their swords by stabbing
> someone in the stomach openning their gut.

I don't know what this book said, but the English word "fuck" is closely
related to the Dutch word "fokken", meaning "to breed" (livestock), and
Swedish "fokka", meaning "copulate". If the word "fuck" was used in the
Crusades (when? which Crusades? and by speakers of what language? I'd
like more documentation on that) with a violent sense, that doesn't make
that the origin of the term. More likely the Crusaders in question were
using an established sexual term and applying it to a violent act, not the
other way around.

--Eva