Let's talk about sex, baby...

[weather_eyes]

Another question for all you lovely, helpful people out there: What words for sex were used in the 18th Century?

Today we have words like shag, screw, hump etc... but how would Captain Jack et al have referred to sex?

Many thanks. :)

Comments

[the_dala]

I remember this question floating around back in the day with some helpful links, but damned if I can even recall where I saw it. Hmmm...I like to think that Jack would often refer to the act itself with more technical and important-sounding terms and/or anything that could be contribute to a bad pun:'fornication,' 'coitus,' 'copulation' etc.

I don't believe 'shag' was around at the time (though I admit to using it in fic). I'm curious to know about 'screw,' as it's one of those words that sounds so anachronistic yet seems like it would've been used. 'Making love' was, I believe, more commonly akin to pre-bedroom courtship methods. 'Fucking' is period, and 'swiving,' 'rogering,' 'buggering' (that last might be generally used to refer to anal sex, but I doubt it would matter coming from Jack's mouth).

Really interested to see the answers to this!

[weather_eyes]

I've just found this:

Online Etymology Dictionary

shag (v.)
"copulate with," 1788, probably from obs. verb shag (c.1380) "to shake, waggle," which probably is connected to shake (cf. shake, shake it in U.S. blues slang from 1920s, ostensibly with ref. to dancing).

So I guess 'shag' is OK too. :)

[the_dala]

Interesting history it's got, too!

[the_dala]

::applauds:: I think I love the 'ladies' tailoring' euphemism the best. Sounds like a patented Gibbs phrase. And 'did a kindness' is no doubt how how Jack views all of his sexual encounters.

[weather_eyes]

And 'did a kindness' is no doubt how how Jack views all of his sexual encounters. Absolutely! *g*

[penknife]

"Fuck" is period, as is "swive" (used like "fuck" -- you swive someone, we were swiving, why doesn't this swiving compass work?) "Tup" is also period. And of course there's "bugger" for, well, buggery.

"Sleep with" is both period and more polite, as is "bed" or "lie with."

(And "screw" dates to 1725 and "shag" to 1788, with "hump" dated to 1785 but probably used earlier, so you're really not too far off with any of those.)

What's probably not period is "sex," and even "sexual relations" is a little late -- for "sexual intercourse" you usually probably want "carnal knowledge," and "carnal" is usually a good substitute for "sexual."

I see you've already found the Online Etymology Dictionary; the 1736 Canting Dictionary and 1811 Dictionary of Slang are also helpful.

[weather_eyes]

Thanks for those links. They look fascinating. :)

I've just found this at dictionary.com@

tup, tupped, tup·ping.

-noun

1. Chiefly British. a male sheep; ram.

2. the head of a falling hammerlike mechanism, as of a steam hammer or pile driver.

-verb (used with object)

3. Chiefly British. (of a ram) to copulate with (a ewe).

-verb (used without object)

4. Chiefly British. (of a ewe) to copulate.

[Origin: 1300-50; ME tope, tupe ram, of obscure orig.]

Sheep? I know there were a lot of goats in PotC, but... ;)

[penknife]

Sheep? I know there were a lot of goats in PotC, but... ;)

Heh. Yes, literally it's what rams do with ewes, but by the PotC period it also just means (heterosexual) fucking. (Famously, in Othello: "an old black ram is tupping your white ewe.")

[weather_eyes]

Here's some more (from http://bowland-files.lancs.ac.uk/newsbooks/dict.htm#SexandProstitution)

This is a lexicon of slang terms found in Mercurius Fumigosus, a newsbook published in 1654-1655 by Royalist journalist John Crouch.

Clicketts, to play (a game) at.
Cuddle me cuddle.
Hay (to make)
Wild Mare, (to hunt/horse/catch the)

[compassrose7577]

If only your mothers could hear you!

I certainly hope there is a point to all this! I'd be embarassed for all of you if this is only an excuse for vile and baseless language...that I read every sentence of. (if that seemed a bit cryptic...my 'double u' key just died :(