Scotland's claim to fame as birthplace of the F-word revealed:
[...] Experts say the origins of the profanity can be traced all the way back to the 16th century equivalent of a rap battle.
An account of a "flyting" duel between two poets, held in the collection of the National Library of Scotland, is said to be its first recorded use anywhere in the world.
The hour-long BBC Scotland programme, which airs on Tuesday[1], sees actress, singer and theatre-maker Cora Bissett[2] trace the nation's long love affair with swearing and insults, despite the long-standing efforts of religious leaders to condemn it as a sin.
[...] [The documentary] In Scotland – Contains Strong Language, [explores] the Bannatyne Manuscript, one of the most important collections of medieval Scottish literature, which was compiled by the Edinburgh merchant George Bannatyne in 1568 when a plague struck the city and he was forced to stay at home.
The collection contains The Flyting Of Dunbar And Kennedy, an account by the poet William Dunbar of a duel with Walter Kennedy, said to have been conducted in Edinburgh before the court of King James IV of Scotland in around 1500.
[...] A spokeswoman for the National Library said: "The Bannatyne Manuscript[3] is a collection of some 400 poems compiled by the young Edinburgh merchant George Bannatyne in the last months of 1568, when an outbreak of plague in Edinburgh compelled him to stay indoors. It is one of the most important surviving sources of Older Scots poetry.
"The manuscript remained in his descendants' possession until they gifted it to the National Library's predecessor – in 1772.
[...] "It has long been known that the manuscript contains some strong swearwords that are now common in everyday language, although at the time, they were very much used in good-natured jest.
[1] Scotland—Contains Strong Language
[2] Cora Bissett
[3] Bannatyne Manuscript
From Ars Technica's 500-year-old manuscript contains earliest known use of the "F-word":
Flyting is a poetic genre in Scotland—essentially a poetry slam or rap battle, in which participants exchange creative insults with as much verbal pyrotechnics (doubling and tripling of rhymes, lots of alliteration) as they can muster. (It's a safe bet Shakespeare excelled at this art form.)
Dunbar and Kennedy supposedly faced off for a flyting in the court of James IV of Scotland around 1500, and their exchange was set down for posterity in Bannatyne's manuscript. In the poem, Dunbar makes fun of Kennedy's Highland dialect, for instance, as well as his personal appearance, and he suggests his opponent enjoys sexual intercourse with horses. Kennedy retaliates with attacks on Dunbar's diminutive stature and lack of bowel control, suggesting his rival gets his inspiration from drinking "frogspawn" from the waters of a rural pond. You get the idea.
And then comes the historic moment: an insult containing the phrase "wan fukkit funling," marking the earliest known surviving record of the F-word.
George Carlin, in his inimitable way, has an erudite exposition on its use in a wide variety of grammatical categories. Warning, contains vulgarities.
(Score: 3, Informative) by hendrikboom on Tuesday April 07 2020, @10:45PM (3 children)
Hard to imagine it's not related to the Dutch word 'fokken' which means to breed, as in breeding chickens.
Present tense is 'fok'. But meanings drift. The direct translation of 'to fuck' is 'neuken'.
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Tuesday April 07 2020, @11:38PM
It's interesting that the word was applied to a human rival rather than sheep, given the origin.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by petecox on Wednesday April 08 2020, @12:04AM
Alternatively, 'fac' is the imperative form of the Latin verb do/make, from which the Romans gave us the expression:
'fac id'.
(Score: 2) by bd on Wednesday April 08 2020, @03:28PM
Interesting. "neuken" sounds similar to German "necken" (to tease).
There are so many similarities between European languages...
Just checking wiktionary, in German, before standardized language / orthography, "ficken", "facken", or "fucken" used to mean reaming, grinding, moving something forward and backward repeatedly.
For some reason, in Germany, these purely technical terms shifted to a sexual interpretation during the 16th century, leading to the modern "ficken" (to fuck).
Scandinavian languages also have similar words with sexual connotation, derived from proto-Germanic "fukkona".
I guess it could also just have been a parallel development from similar roots, or maybe french "ficher" (ram down/hammer down). But how would you derive a sexual connotation from that...
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 07 2020, @10:56PM (5 children)
for those who don't know.
(Score: 3, Funny) by PartTimeZombie on Tuesday April 07 2020, @11:34PM
That doesn't sound right
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 08 2020, @12:11AM
One wonders why swyve fell out of use.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 08 2020, @04:38AM
The Scots may have found some old paper where this usage was invented, but I've got a real flying fuck -- whimsical erotic sculpture done by a family friend who was an accomplished artist. It's hand molded wax over a wire armature, all ready to be investment cast in bronze.
Unfortunately my SO won't let me put it out on display...
(Score: 3, Interesting) by canopic jug on Wednesday April 08 2020, @09:43AM
for those who don't know.
The word, "fuck", is mundane, especially in EU-English. It's everywhere and no one will notice if you say it even on live broadcasts. That is not the F-word which people are actually scared of and punished for saying.
Because of the strong language warnings in the summary, I briefly considered that the F-word might have been "freedom", as in software freedom. You can use the word "fuck" all over the place online and the worst you will get is a warning. However if you start brandishing the other F-word about, then you can kiss your Reddit, Hackernews, Gab, Steemit, or any other similar account goodbye, especially if you use it in the context of software.
Money is not free speech. Elections should not be auctions.
(Score: 2) by KritonK on Wednesday April 08 2020, @11:15AM
According to TFA, it is actually "fukk".
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 07 2020, @11:58PM (2 children)
With the virus raging, toilet paper hoarding, pizza rolls diminishing, it all makes an AC think:
Why not a quality aristachu submission?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 08 2020, @12:06AM
Good one, maybe he can be coherent enough to write something relevant with that much free time.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 08 2020, @12:18AM
We aren't ready to blow our brains out yet.
(Score: 4, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 08 2020, @12:16AM
From Coronavirus to Uranus did Aristarchus like a blunderbuss, cuss and fuss from his malodorous dust in the hellacious locus of Cyprus.
His abacus fucked his calculus as Selene lamented to Alcaeus of Mytilene formenting supreme saphenous, microstomus spleen.
His whine a peep-hole to the shine in the night, a height he never got right, eclipsed by the Schwarze Sonne lowlight of the Alt-Right.
Strangely dipterous but never too serious, he's Soylent adjacent and lives in a basement of right-wing embracement.
Always conspicuous when he's pseudonymous, the inauspicious, pretentious dissensus makes one apprehensious for it must be... Aristarchus!
(Score: -1, Disagree) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 08 2020, @04:34AM (4 children)
It is my understanding that F.U.C.K. was an Olde English acronym.
It stands for 'Fornication Under Consent of the King', and means you have the King's permission to live together.
Don't they teach you kids anything these days?
~childo
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 08 2020, @05:39AM
People didn't speak in acronyms in Olde English
(Score: 2) by vux984 on Wednesday April 08 2020, @05:44AM
That's been debunked countless times.
(Score: 2) by Taibhsear on Wednesday April 08 2020, @10:29AM (1 child)
My religion teacher in high school used to say it stands for "For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge." My bullshit detector was pretty strong even back then and went off every time.
(Score: 1) by nitehawk214 on Wednesday April 08 2020, @07:32PM
Maybe he was just a Van Halen fan?
"Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
(Score: 3, Touché) by maxwell demon on Wednesday April 08 2020, @05:04AM
Despite? What about: Because of?
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.