P****, C***, F***, S***, C***, A******
The origin of dirty talk and the modern hypocrisy of the English written language.
Few words are more frequently used in American and British movies and in daily language than some of the dirty words that are consequently “starred” like this***** in magazines and newspapers. Why? As I said in the article: “Dirty language and swearing, – its function and origin”, I will try to take a view back on history to find out more about their origin. Find out where these banned words come from, and why they were classified as too dirty to be used, – not to mention spelled, or written.
WARNING: Since the text contains fully spelled dirty words, we recommend very sensitive or religious persons to take precautions, and perhaps go to another post or page to balance the nervous system.
The filthy Vikings.
The history of our dirty words at least in the Western World, starts with the Anglo-Saxons and Vikings. When England was no longer a part of the Roman Empire, about 450 AD, the Saxons were coming in from Northern- Holland and Northwestern Germany, and the Angles and Jutes were coming from Southern and Northern Denmark. Later, in the period from 1016 to 1066, other Vikings from Norway, Sweden and Denmark tried with mixed success, to conquer various parts of England.
When, however, the exiled Viking, Rollo (Gange-Rolv)*, from Vigra in Norway, became the first Duke of Normandy in 911, the Viking heritage of dirty words expanded at least in northern France. Rollo was the great-great-great grandfather of Guillaume, or William the Conqueror.
Viking and Duke of Normandy, “Rollo” or “Gange-Rolv”, from the film, Viking History II.( History book tells what sounds like a myth, that he was too tall to ride a horse, since his legs swept the ground when riding) One might ask how small their horses were at that time.
The cleansed and Christened “Viking” William the Conqueror.
When William crossed the Channel and captured the throne of England in 1066, he left behind him the swearwords from his ancestors the Norsemen. We have reasons to believe from records that the dirty vocabulary of the Danish Angles, Dutch-German Saxons, and the Vikings there, wasn’t conceived as dirty among the English-speaking population and at Court, as they later were to be. But William the Conqueror changed this by imposing his adopted elegant French language to be spoken both at the Court and by the elite.
No more common English or Middle-English were to be spoken at the court or by the elite, under William’s reign. He introduced French as the Royal and political language.
Hence common English was looked down on, and more so the traditional expressions referring to natural but private parts of the body. In a strange way we can say that King William is the origin of dirty language, since it was from his time and onwards that these common English expressions of natural body functions, more and more were regarded as improper and dirty.
Politics and Christianity changed the perspective.
According to Michael Castleman in his article on the origin of dirty language in Psychology Today, he says about the filthy words that: “They’re “dirty” not because of sex, but because of political conquest.” I will add Christian tradition.
– Homosexuality was also banned.
When for example Christianity spread in The Ottoman Muslim Empire, covering most of the Middle east, and Northern Africa,-many things were forbidden that from ancient times were accepted in the Muslim countries. That was the case with homosexuality. If same-sex love between men in the common population , was not exactly encouraged by the Muslim authorities, it was very rarely looked down upon or punished. ** (Later, in some countries where sharia was practiced harshly you had to have four eyewitnesses proving your guiltiness.** When it comes to female sexuality other than making babies and satisfying the husband, it seems that her sexuality was altogether suppressed in most parts of “the civilzed world”. see: http://www.selvuniverset.com/2018/01/16/fed-sex-just-way-done/)
Map of The Ottoman Empire
But in all the countries that were put under British rule by the British Empire, homosexuality was forbidden and punished.***
Map of the enormous British Empire and its influence on cultural norms, even “people’s emotions like shame and guilt.”(my opinion)
*** (https://libcom.org/history/historical-look-attitudes-homosexuality-islamic-world) http://scroll.in/article/810093/orlando-shooting-its-different-now-but-muslims-have-a-long-history-of-accepting-homosexuality.)
– William the Conqueror denies Priests to marry.
What William the Conqueror uttered when he was angry, provoked, or horny we don’t know. We believe he was a good Christian in the way he attended Church regularly and asked the Pope Alexander II’s permission to invade England. In return he refused the priests to marry, by forcing celibacy on the clergy, and encouraging the population to quit there mundane English language, above all the filthy words from the Norsemen.
The origin of the different dirty words.
“Pussy”
This anatomical word is believed to have a double origin, and come from both Old Norse (Old Norwegian) and Old German. First, we have Pus or Puss meaning Cat. And there is an old tradition comparing the female to feline or catlike creatures. Michael Castleman thinks that nicknaming women called Katharine for Kitty or Ka, are examples of this tradition. He also thinks that there has been an evolution in meaning from these soft furry pets called pus in Scandinavia, to the soft furry place between women’s legs called Pussy.
The other meaning is believed to derive from Pousa, or Danish Norwegian Pose, or Pouch (bag, purse, wallet, sack, sac, pocket, container, receptacle) And it originally referred to the vaginas of cows.
“Cunt”
Cunt is a very dirty word for the pussy and appeared for the first time in sources about 1230. Cunt is by most linguists believed to be derived from the Old Norwegian word ‘kunta’. “Kunta”, is among other things used in the meaning of a cavity that is relatively narrow and deep, like the female genitals. The linguist Jann de Caprona however in his heavy etymological word book, traces the word back to it’s latin origin in “cunnus”, meaning the female vagina. (the same root is seen in french “con”, and spanish “cono”.) Most probably there is a link between Latin and Old Norse here, because of much traveling between Northern and Southern Europe in the period of the Vikings and later in the Medieval Age .
“Shit”
Shit comes from the Old Norwegian, “skite” and “skit” (pronounced shita and shit)) It means “to poop” and “poo”. Now “shit” is used all over the English speaking world as an exclamation for some bad luck, or little accident, – some disappointment. It’s often accompanied by “oh”, like in “oh shit”. It can also be used in relation to bad taste for food: Do you really like “that shit”, and in sexual preferences; “you like that shit, eh?!” when someone kisses or licks another person in places too private to mention.
“Fuck”
Fuck is traced back to Old Norse and Old Norwegian “fukka”, meaning having intercourse. Fuck is related to Germanic words meaning to beat, to rub or to have intercourse. Related words can be German ficken (“to have intercourse”), Dutch “fokken” (“to beat”) and the Swedish dialectic expressions fokka (“beating”, “having intercourse ») and dialect swedish “fock (” penis).
A collage inspired by Munch’s “Scream”, cartoon swearing, and Mc Cauley Culkin in Home Alone
When I was a child we shared a sailboat with some friends of my parents. The smaller sail in front of the boat rigged for two sails, was called “fokk” or “fokken”. And this fokk, very often throbbed and flapped in the wind, with a sound like this, “fokk fokk fokk fokk fokk…….Then maybe this word also has an onomatopoetic, connection to rapid and fast pulsating penetration based on the sound of it? (see the first article of dirty words and their psychological significance: http://www.selvuniverset.com/2017/12/16/dirty-language-swearing-function-origin/
“Cock”
There is a possible link here from the word cock to the Old-Norse/Old-Norwegian, “Kjuke”, the big and hard mushroom on the stem of a big tree. Another possibility is the Icelandic “kukur”, referring to dirt, shit. Most likely is however a notable influence from the French “Cocq”, meaning the male chicken, cock or rooster in the poultry house. The cock is worldwide conceived as very virile and macho, a symbol of the male. This word cock is most probably derived from the Latin word Coccus. (Yann de Caprona, “Norsk Etymologisk ordbok”)
In Norwegian the personal pronoun for the male is “han”( in English “”him” or “he” ) and the rooster or cock is called “hane”. We also have “hanen på revolveren”, that is: “the cock on the revolver.” In addition we have “Kukk”, “Kuk”, and ”Pikk”, similar to Cock, Dick and Prick. Here Pikk and Prick refers to the common word of a small stick or spike. http://www.selvuniverset.com/2017/12/16/dirty-language-swearing-function-origin/”
“Ass”
You find “ass” from the Old Norse/Old Norwegian “ars” and Middle Dutch “ærs”, even German Arsch ie. “buttocks, hinder part of an animal.” And you see it in Old English “ærs”, that is “tail, rump,”. The Greek word “orros” tail, rump, base of the spine,” and the Hittite or Armenian “arrash”, they all has the same meaning. In Norway you often hear the word “rasshøl” about a person you think is bad, It is no better than calling a person “asshole” in English and it stems from the root “ars” in combination with the word “hole” in English, and “høl” or “hull” in Norwegian.
The dirty, swearing and filthy Vikings.
When the Vikings came to Turkey or the Ottoman Empire, they were considered, very handsome, strong and well fit. At the same time, their hygiene were looked upon as extremely filthy and dirty. After my very short history of the origin of six of the most commonly used dirty words today, we might add that; – so was their language.
Although back then in their world in the North and in England these words were not filthy or banned yet. They just described reality as it was, without the burden of shame from the fast spreading Christianity in Europe, and the much later Victorian era that still has its effect on us. Some will say though, that giving these words a dirty label, an hence an atmosphere of the forbidden, this combination makes them just as effective and strong as we need them to be. I don’t really know……….
