Etymology lesson of the day
Jan. 5th, 2012 03:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wowbrightSo 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:
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!
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no subject
Date: 2012-01-06 12:12 am (UTC)(Btw some of your italics html isn't working.)
My favorite parts:
Swedish regional fokka to copulate (compare Swedish regional fock penis)
feykja to blow
German regional ficken to rub, to make short fast movements, to hit with rods
"To hit with rods" makes me think of porn in which a man slaps someone's face with his penis. LOL.
I'm also not totally pleased with the word frot. How do you pronounce fichen? And how do you pronounce wichsen?
no subject
Date: 2012-01-06 12:24 am (UTC)"Wichsen" sounds like "vixen," actually, which I never realized until this moment. However, if you were actually using it in a sentence, it would usually have an ending other than "en" so it would sound a little different. For example, "ich wichse" for "i jerk off" and "er wichst" for "he jerks off" and "du wichsest" for "you jerk off."
no subject
Date: 2012-01-06 12:39 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-01-06 01:53 am (UTC)The English "v" and the German "w" don't sound much different to me, but perhaps I am missing a distinction that is there.
no subject
Date: 2012-01-06 02:39 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-01-06 02:57 am (UTC)There's another form of the past tense that could be used, too, depending on the context, but this one is more common and would pretty much never be wrong in conversation.
no subject
Date: 2012-01-06 03:20 am (UTC)(ear hopped geVIXT) Like the ear with which one hears, and what a bunny did.
LOL!
And the "you, formal". Heeeeee.
And I can't imagine a context in which a person would ever say that, but that doesn't mean it couldn't be done.
"You have five minutes to make me come."
"But I thought you already... ah..."
"Yes? Tell me, slave, what it was you thought I did."
"You jerked off, master. Minutes ago."
"Then you'll just have to try that much harder."
no subject
Date: 2012-01-06 03:35 am (UTC)"Sie" is also used among adult acquaintances (kids use "du"), co-workers and the like. That was actually the scenario I imagined it possibly being used in -- maybe an employee who won't last long at a fertility clinic/sperm bank saying, "And did you jerk off into the cup?"
no subject
Date: 2012-01-06 04:26 am (UTC)This conversation has been so much fun. :D
no subject
Date: 2012-01-06 02:40 am (UTC)I like "hit with rods," because it reminds me of rods hitting each other :)
Which just reminded me of "fish-slapping" from the Veggie Tales Jonah movie. Oh, what is it with me?
no subject
Date: 2012-01-06 02:43 am (UTC)Hahaha. It also reminds me of cock wars. Have you ever played thumbs wars? It's similar. "1, 2, 3, 4, I declare a cock war." LOL.
no subject
Date: 2012-01-06 03:00 am (UTC)I wonder if any of their parents ever found out ...
no subject
Date: 2012-01-06 03:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-01-06 03:38 am (UTC)However, I imagine some of the girls who had the hip wars found it, well, curiously stimulating.
no subject
Date: 2012-01-06 03:39 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-01-06 04:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-01-06 10:12 pm (UTC)Come to think of it, though, frogs frot when they have sex - they can't have penetrative sex because their genitals aren't external. Huh.
How's that for arcane knowledge?
no subject
Date: 2012-01-07 07:24 pm (UTC)"Frot" is derived from the French verb "frotter" which literaly means "to rub" - and no, it doesn't sound very sexy, does it? - as a shortened version of "frottage".
So we have: Frogs, frottage, and fromage. Mmm.
no subject
Date: 2012-01-07 10:57 pm (UTC)And it's actually "frottage" that I associate with "fromage"; I didn't state that right. :) But I also associate it with "cottage," because people pronounce it to rhyme with both of them. "Cottage" doesn't make me as squeamish, but it's not actually a sexy word, either.
Maybe we can just make something based on the word "polish."
no subject
Date: 2012-01-08 03:13 am (UTC)frogs"frot". I can imagine using it as a substitute in a conversation instead of actually saying "to jerk off" (I'm sure it seems more hilarious in my head than it actually is; don't mind my odd sense of humour)no subject
Date: 2012-01-10 03:13 am (UTC)