Etymology lesson of the day
So two trips ago to the university library, where I occasionally go to do research for my Real Work, I rewarded myself for a job well done by having a peek in the Oxford English Dictionary to look up the origins of "glasz."
At the time, I decided I should make consulting the OED a regular reward for my work. But the last time I was at the library, I was in such a hurry that I couldn't. Today, however, I can, and I present to you the etymology of an R-rated word:
Yup, I looked up fuck. I already knew that this word was of Germanic origin, like most profanities in English. This has to do with English history. In 1066, the Normans (French) began to conquer England, much of which had been under the rule of Anglo-Saxons, a collection of Germanic tribes that began migrating to and invading areas of England in the 5th century. The language of the Anglo-Saxons was Old English, which is structurally a lot like modern German.
After the conquest, French became the language of the elites, and English became the language of the commoners. But they weren't mutually exclusive. English began to borrow a lot of words from French, especially for hoity-toity and technical language. Germanic words were for the common (the house of a commoner was called with the Germanic word "house"; the house of an elite was called a "mansion," which is from the French word for "house" - not the French word for "big fancy rich person's abode). French words had an aura of class and wealth just by the fact of them being French.
And since French means class and wealth, we can't really have vulgarities coming from French. So they come from Old English, with maybe the influence of Old Norse thrown in. (Old Norse is another Germanic language, which came to England in about the 9th century and influenced, but did not overtake, Old English.)
Okay, so not that you've had your history lesson (which is hopefully accurate since it's been more than a decade since I've formally studied Old English), here's what the OED told me about fuck:
Probably cognate with Dutch fokken to mock (15th cent.), to strike (1591), to fool, gull (1623), to beget children (1637), to have sexual intercourse with (1657), to grow, cultivate (1772), Norwegian regional fukka to copulate, Swedish regional fokka to copulate (compare Swedish regional fock penis), further etymology uncertain: perhaps < an Indo-European root meaning ‘to strike’ also shown by classical Latin pugnus fist. ... Perhaps compare Old Icelandic fjúka to be driven on, tossed by the wind, feykja to blow, drive away, Middle High German fochen to hiss, to blow. Perhaps compare also Middle High German ficken to rub, early modern German ficken to rub, itch, scratch, German ficken to have sexual intercourse with (1558), German regional ficken to rub, to make short fast movements, to hit with rods, although the exact nature of any relationship is unclear.
I love that one of the meanings of German ficken is "to rub" and another is "to hit with rods." Why? Because I dislike the word "frot" (it sounds way too much like "frog," and it's so Latinate, and Latinate words just don't sound right to me when one is talking about sex). So maybe we can just start using fick instead? Of course, it sounds an awful lot like "fickle," so ...
And on a bit of a digression, it was new to me that ficken means fuck in modern German. When I was in Germany, I learned it as fichen, and I know I'm not remembering it incorrectly because I was young and impressionable and probably used that word more than any of the decent German words I knew. (That and wichsen, which basically means to jerk off.) So now I'm wondering if fichen is dialectal Bavarian, and not German, since Bavaria was the region where I was going to school. I would love to import fichen into the English language, because it has such a satisfying pronunciation; unfortunately, English speakers are generally unable to pronounce it correctly, so ...
And now I am done rewarding myself for coming to the library, and shall get me back to work. Hope you enjoyed this foray into linguistic history!
At the time, I decided I should make consulting the OED a regular reward for my work. But the last time I was at the library, I was in such a hurry that I couldn't. Today, however, I can, and I present to you the etymology of an R-rated word:
Yup, I looked up fuck. I already knew that this word was of Germanic origin, like most profanities in English. This has to do with English history. In 1066, the Normans (French) began to conquer England, much of which had been under the rule of Anglo-Saxons, a collection of Germanic tribes that began migrating to and invading areas of England in the 5th century. The language of the Anglo-Saxons was Old English, which is structurally a lot like modern German.
After the conquest, French became the language of the elites, and English became the language of the commoners. But they weren't mutually exclusive. English began to borrow a lot of words from French, especially for hoity-toity and technical language. Germanic words were for the common (the house of a commoner was called with the Germanic word "house"; the house of an elite was called a "mansion," which is from the French word for "house" - not the French word for "big fancy rich person's abode). French words had an aura of class and wealth just by the fact of them being French.
And since French means class and wealth, we can't really have vulgarities coming from French. So they come from Old English, with maybe the influence of Old Norse thrown in. (Old Norse is another Germanic language, which came to England in about the 9th century and influenced, but did not overtake, Old English.)
Okay, so not that you've had your history lesson (which is hopefully accurate since it's been more than a decade since I've formally studied Old English), here's what the OED told me about fuck:
Probably cognate with Dutch fokken to mock (15th cent.), to strike (1591), to fool, gull (1623), to beget children (1637), to have sexual intercourse with (1657), to grow, cultivate (1772), Norwegian regional fukka to copulate, Swedish regional fokka to copulate (compare Swedish regional fock penis), further etymology uncertain: perhaps < an Indo-European root meaning ‘to strike’ also shown by classical Latin pugnus fist. ... Perhaps compare Old Icelandic fjúka to be driven on, tossed by the wind, feykja to blow, drive away, Middle High German fochen to hiss, to blow. Perhaps compare also Middle High German ficken to rub, early modern German ficken to rub, itch, scratch, German ficken to have sexual intercourse with (1558), German regional ficken to rub, to make short fast movements, to hit with rods, although the exact nature of any relationship is unclear.
I love that one of the meanings of German ficken is "to rub" and another is "to hit with rods." Why? Because I dislike the word "frot" (it sounds way too much like "frog," and it's so Latinate, and Latinate words just don't sound right to me when one is talking about sex). So maybe we can just start using fick instead? Of course, it sounds an awful lot like "fickle," so ...
And on a bit of a digression, it was new to me that ficken means fuck in modern German. When I was in Germany, I learned it as fichen, and I know I'm not remembering it incorrectly because I was young and impressionable and probably used that word more than any of the decent German words I knew. (That and wichsen, which basically means to jerk off.) So now I'm wondering if fichen is dialectal Bavarian, and not German, since Bavaria was the region where I was going to school. I would love to import fichen into the English language, because it has such a satisfying pronunciation; unfortunately, English speakers are generally unable to pronounce it correctly, so ...
And now I am done rewarding myself for coming to the library, and shall get me back to work. Hope you enjoyed this foray into linguistic history!