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Re: New Words

From:Paul Bennett <paul-bennett@...>
Date:Friday, October 31, 2003, 6:50
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

Replies

Paul Bennett <paul-bennett@...>
Mark J. Reed <markjreed@...>