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A historian says he stumbled upon one of the earliest uses of the F word is some very old court documents.
IT’S become the quintessential profanity of the English language and a historian believes he has found the earliest recorded use of the infamous F word.
Dr Paul Bloom said he accidentally stumbled upon the well used pejorative in court documents from December of 1310. The former lecturer in medieval history and research fellow at Keele University in the UK was on the hunt for records of Edward II when he noticed a man named Roger F***ebythenavele, or in a more contemporary context, Roger the navel f***er.
At first he thought it was a joke by the court’s clerk but once he saw the name written four times, he became convinced it was something more significant – etymologically speaking, that is.
“I thought it might be a clerk’s joke, but I think this is actually someone who had been given this nickname,†he told the DailyMail.com.
He’s not exactly sure what the exact meaning behind the name is but he has two theories about why the defendant accrued the unfortunate title.
“Either it refers to an inexperienced copulator, referring to someone trying to have sex with the navel, or it’s a rather extravagant explanation for a dimwit, someone so stupid they think that this is the way to have sex,†he said.
According to Jesse Sheildlower of the American Dialect Society who wrote a book called The F Word, said the word had its roots in the German language. It seemingly popped up by accident in 1278 as part of a translation of the German word “filcher,†meaning soldier. It is thought to have had uses in other Germanic languages with sexual connotations, as well as meanings such as ‘to strike’ or ‘to move back and forth’.
But according to Dr Bloom, his discovery could likely be the earliest found use of the word in the manner in which it is commonly used today.
“The significance is the occurrence of (possibly) the earliest known use of the word “f***†that clearly has a sexual connotation,†he told Vice News.
As for Roger F***ebythenavele, he appeared again on court records in 1311 when he was outlawed from the Chester County community. While he was banished in a rather disreputable way, his legacy may end up being a lot longer lasting than he and the court ever imagined.
Dr Bloom said he has alerted the Oxford English Dictionary to his finding. “It’s up to them what they will do,†he said.