Re: New Words
| From: | Paul Bennett <paul-bennett@...> |
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| Date: | Friday, October 31, 2003, 6:50 |
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On 30 Oct 2003 at 19:32, Abrigon Gusiq wrote:
> Abbreviations, such as using For use of Carnal Knowledge = FUCK (now a
> nasty word, but not always so?). Unless there is actually an older
> Germanice word like GeFuchen = the act of sex?
Yes. In this case, there is some legitimate etymology, certainly back
before "carnal knowledge" was a common polite way of saying it.
The earliest reference I know of is in a XII (or XIII?) Cent text
describing a bird called a "windfucker", known today as a
"windbeater". Fairly certainly, the etymology is "beat", probably
back to PIE. I thought there was a root *pug- or (*puk- ?) for
"strike", but the AHD doesn't have it.
Interestingly, there is *bhug^o- (ph.b0.c'.o in my "symbolic
notation") for "male animal", which might or might not be related.
Paul
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