Did the word F**K , C**nt , etc. exist back in the 17 and 1800's?

Question

I am asking this cause I just saw a little of Deadwood, and they cause worse than a sailer, and I 'm thinking, were those cursing just thrown in to appease the audiences? Just like the movie Apocolypto, one of the natives said ****ed. I never knew the word made it down that far from Germany, even during that time. Or even into the states during the civil wars or even the revolutionary war.

Thank you ycats, i just read that article, sounds like the producer/writer for Deadwood is an errogant ****. I find all this very instresting.

Answer 1

I'm too lazy to look for it but there was a great article about this last year. Using cusses against God where common amongst the mining towns but the writers took liberties with the other cuss words used on the show. I seem to remember the sexual descriptors where out of character for that period.

EDIT: Beefcake, I think I found it, check out the link below. It was in New York Magazine, the article is exactly what you where asking about.

Answer 2

Yes, the Marquis de Sade uses them both frequently if you've ever read his work. C**t is possibly older, with some worthy academics spending their careers linking it to the Latin word cunnus as in cunnilingus. Even if this isn't true, folks have been shouting f**king c**t to their bosses since at least the early medieval period.

Answer 3

Yes. Most "cuss" words came from the middle ages or medieval times. Words were considered "bad" because they were used by the peasant class. If you wanted to be considered high class (nobility, royalty, etc.) you did not use these terms. F***, sh**, C*nt were all common terms for the poorest caste.

Answer 4

Yes. These are old anglo-saxon words form the Middle Ages.

Answer 5

Wikipedia gives some history and background information on both words. Yahoo won't let me link directly to them, so cut & paste the links into your address bar and fill in the blanks :)

EDIT: And despite what some silly people might say, they did not use the word "fucketh"

Answer 6

The word c**t goes as far back as the middle ages.

Chaucer used it in the Caterbury tales except it was spelled 'quaint'

Answer 7

In the documentary "F*CK" they say the earliest use of the word was in a poem in the 1600's. And no, its not an acronym.

Answer 8

They are old anglo-saxon words.
The female one goes back even further. The Latin word for it is cunnus.

Answer 9

I don't believe so. There are terms for those words that are more polite.If they got used it never was in front of a woman or child.

Answer 10

and they said C*ntite instead too. Thou is a c*ntite.