where did the word F**k originate?

Question

i was told it meantthe following
For
Understanding
Carnal
Knowledge

http://www.djoyner.com

Answer 1

Here are a few variants of the history or origin of this word~ I listed all of them and then the comments of the person who investigated them on the site I found this info on:

In ancient England a person could not have sex unless you had consent of the King (unless you were in the Royal Family). When anyone wanted to have a baby, they got consent of the King, the King gave them a placard that they hung on their door while they were having sex. The placard had F.*.*.*. (Fornication Under Consent of the King) on it. Now you know where that came from.

The word f*** comes from colonial times, when someone would be punished for 'prostitution' It was an acronym for the words

'For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge'
F***was written on the stocks that held these criminals because For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge was too long to go on the stocks

I always heard that "F***." originated in the 1800's in London, when they used to charge prostitutes "For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge". So officer got sick and tired of writing those, um, lessee, 26 characters, not including spaces, so it got abbreviated F*** and stuck

Comments: Having consulted the definitive reference work on this subject (yes, there is such a thing: "The F-Word" by Jesse Sheidlower, published by Random House in 1999), we feel confident in dismissing the above claims as imaginative bunk.

The word f*** did not originate as an acronym. It crept, fully formed, into the English language from Dutch or Low German around the 15th century (it's impossible to say precisely when because so little documentary evidence exists, probably due to the fact that the word was so taboo throughout its early history that people were afraid to write it down). The American Heritage Dictionary says its first known occurrence in English literature was in the satirical poem "Flen, Flyss" (c.1500), where it was not only disguised as a Latin word but encrypted — gxddbov — which has been deciphered as fuccant, pseudo-Latin for "they f***."

According to Sheidlower, the earliest claims in print of supposed acronymic origins for the F-word appeared during the 1960s. An underground newspaper called the East Village Other published this version in 1967:

It's not commonly known that the word "f***" originated as a medical diagnostic notation on the documests of soldiers in the British Imperial Army. When a soldier reported sick and was found to have V.D., the abbreviation f***. was stamped on his documents. It was short for "Found Under Carnal Knowledge." Two more variants appeared in a letter published in Playboy magazine in 1970:

My friend claims that the word f*** originated in the 15th Century, when a married couple needed permission from the king to procreate. Hence, Fornication Under Consent of the King. I maintain that it's an acronym of a law term used in the 1500s that referred to rape as Forced Unnatural Carnal Knowledge." Undoubtedly the most famous use of this etymological travesty was as the title of the 1991 Van Halen album, "For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge."

Answer 2

I had been told it was an acronym for Fornication Under Consent of the king, but I know that's not true, because it can't explain the appearance of a similar word in German, "ficken". They probably both have the same roots, and like so many other verbs, eveolved differently, but still mean the same thing.

Danzarth probably has the best answer.

Answer 3

There are lots of stories about it being an acronym (made up with the initials of words for which it stands) but these stories are urban legends. It is a word that formed like most words, and means itself.

For instance, lots of other germanic languages have very similar words with the same meaning, such as the Middle Dutch "fokken".

Answer 4

I heard it was For uncovering carnal knowledge. It would be hung on the offendors necks as they sat in the stocks during puritan times.

Answer 5

Fornication Under Consent of the King. I believe England.

Answer 6

Fornication Under Consent of the King.

Answer 7

I heard that it was an abbreviation used when booking prostitutes:
For
Unlawful
Carnal
Knowledge
Because nobody wanted to write down the exact nature of the offence. I think it was a long time ago in England.

Answer 8

fornicating under carnal knowledge. That is what my grandma told me.

Answer 9

Fornication
Under the
Consent of
King

I heard that a king only allowed his subjects to reproduce with his apporval. Those who were allowed to have sex were given a "permit" that said F.U.C.K.


I have also heard that it comes from a German word mean to strike. The word is frichen or something like that.

Answer 10

i read somewhere it derives from the inscription Fornication Under Consent of the King that married couples used to put on their doors