A 10th-Century Old English translation of the Bible contained the immortal phrase: "Don't sard another man's wife." These were local lords at the bottom of the lordship hierarchy. Like with many aspects of medieval society, the way they swore was much different than ours. This does not necessarily mean that he was the person to introduce these words into English, but that the earliest extant uses of these words are found in Chaucerian manuscripts. This will also allow our fans to get more involved in what content we do produce. Medieval swearers had to obfuscate their swearing in a hilarious pudding of rhyme and allusion, but modern-day television channels won't so much as bleep it out. It's tricky to mince words here: "Sard" was the medieval period's F-word. It could have come from "concern," or, less likely, some variation or flattening of "goddamn." There's no question, of course, that people cursed, but we only have records of elite writing. Try tossing some of the words listed above into a text message or gossip session today, and see how your friends react. Four-letter words are all well and good, but they're a bit tired, and lack that, well, sparkle. Medieval swearing – By God’s Nails. You can't deny that it has a certain silly charm. If you really want to get “all Medieval”, try a phrase such as “by God’s nails”. Fuck. The amount of land that could be tilled in a year using a team of eight oxen. The closest guess is that it's a corruption of God's body or "bodikins. Partly because from how sincere oaths were supposed to work, so when you swear sincerely what people in the Middle Ages believed they were doing was asking God to look down from heaven and guarantee that your were true and according to covenants he made with the people of the Bible he actually is almost required to do that.”. It's tricky to mince words here: "Sard" was the medieval period's F-word. Photo via Flickr. S1, Ep2 5 Jan. 2021 With that in mind, here are a few medieval words and phrases you can use that are at once practical, and nowadays quite amusing — life would probably be a lot better if we walked around using these words. To learn more, see this video of Melissa Mohr talking about her book Holy Sh*t: See also The earliest use of the F-word discovered, Top Image: Photo by Laurent Blondeau /Flickr. ", Sample sentence: "Gadsbudlikins, I just hit a cat.". Nora, alas, did not actually exist, and was not some Edwardian equivalent of Jack the Ripper. Just use it judiciously so you don't sound like you're mocking hillbillies. This was a German phrase which was adopted into English at some point, and translates as "upon my soul." Calm down.". Partially, this is because of religious standards. This somehow found its way into Wild-West-style English, but its origins are obscure. While he did write about arse hole, piss and “a man’s yard (penis)” when it came to the term locus ubi puer concipitur, he writes it as “the place where a boy is conceived.”, While medieval people may have seen these words as somewhat impolite, they rarely found them obscene. The second reason was that swearing was so important was that people believed if you would swear by God’s bones, or by Christ’s fingernails, you were actually affecting their bodies up in Heaven. English swear words are recognized all around the world, used in movies, literature, and TV shows. Send. Modern English speech will be turned into Medieval speech! It's only Scandal. The word originally meant either a peasant, a servant, or a young boy, as in the common medieval expression “a knight or a knave.” In Shakespeare’s time, though, the word meant something more like a liar, a cheat, or a con artist. 12. They served the superior lords in a military position. 1. This sounds charming and a bit Errol-Flynn-ish, but is actually far less swashbuckling and more serious than it seems. A Glossary of medieval terms ... Welsh political and administrative division, similar to English shires. We're being evicted!". Our favourite four-letter words have a fascinating history. (That bunch of swearing symbols, incidentally, is called a grawlix . This is a London Cockney slang variant of "flaming horror," where somebody with little time mangled the "h" off the front of "horror" and the "g" off the end of "flaming." It was heretical and shocking, and thus tended to be obscured a bit into words like this one. without anybody threatening you with a heresy charge. Instead, they took it much more important when people swore oaths. In her book, Holy Sh*t: A Brief History of Swearing, Melissa Mohr takes a look at curse words from the ancient Romans to the modern day.Like with many aspects of medieval society, the way they swore was much different than ours. 1. The surviving records of Old English are relatively prudish. All rights reserved. A long time before one of the most famous curse words (the f-word) appeared in the 15th century, there was another verb used for expressing the same action. 1. If you saw ants crawling around you would most likely call them ‘pisse-mires’. Sample sentence: "You can go sard yourself and the horse you rode in on.". Sample sentence: "Your dog's dying? People’s favorite swear and curse words change over time, and this sadly means that some truly great curse words have been lost to history. The real medieval “swear words” were religious oaths. Geoffrey Chaucer wouldn’t have known what a butt was, but he’d laugh if you asked, “Who farted?” By John Brownlee 1 minute Read. Death’s head upon a mop-stick. Therefore, if you swore false oaths, you were making God out to be a liar! Behold, the most colorful and profane insults from the lawless middle ages to annoy (and impress) your friends. We hope that are our audience wants to support us so that we can further develop our podcast, hire more writers, build more content, and remove the advertising on our platforms. Humans have been stellar swearers throughout history. I forgot to buy Coachella tickets.". It actually means "God's hooks" — as in the nails that kept Jesus on the cross. In England, "bloody" is still quite racy, but in Australia, politicians can say basically anything aside from the C-word in Parliament. In her book Holy Sh*t: A Brief History Of Swearing , obscenity expert Melissa Mohr tracks examples from ancient Rome and the hyper-uptight world of early Christianity. In her book, Holy Sh*t: A Brief History of Swearing, Melissa Mohr takes a look at curse words from the ancient Romans to the modern day. This one is reputedly from the 17th Century, and is probably an ultra-embellished form of "God's wounds" (more on that later). Read on to discover 8 fantastic English swear words that, I think we can all agree, should definitely make a huge comeback to our daily lexicons! It is assumed that fuck has a Germanic background (like many other English swear words), but the Oxford English Dictionary states that its ultimate etymology is uncertain. Swear Like a Viking – A (Very) Short History of Early Medieval Swearing We all swear sometimes, it can’t be helped. Contrary to what how we curse today, bodily functions were not the worst of the worst for medieval people when it came to swearing. Cunt. It can't really get clearer than that. A 10th-Century Old English translation of the Bible contained the immortal phrase: " Don't sard another man's wife ." Cacafuego. Godly English Protestants became increasingly intolerant of any form of swearing outside the law courts, and some, Baptists and Quakers most notably, even refused to swear in court. Knave is a classic insult for someone of the male sex, and it’s no wonder: it makes you scrunch up your nose just saying it.. The English language has a rich and varied tradition of swearing which dates back to the early Medieval times, when English as we know it today was first spoken. Okay, I nearly snorted coffee through my nose just reading this phrase. Carucate: A measurement of land in the Danelaw, equivalent to a hide. The majority of them can fit easily into any conversation that you're having in the current day and age. 3. English words first attested in Chaucer, or special manuscript words of Chaucer, are a set of about two thousand English words whose first use found in existing manuscripts is credited to Geoffrey Chaucer. The word “sard” has a peculiar origin. Fief. We've created a Patreon for Medievalists.net as we want to transition to a more community-funded model. Mohr explains, “generally, people of medieval England did not share our modern concept of obscenity, in which words for taboo functions possess a power in excess of their literal meaning and must be fenced off from polite conversation…Medieval people were, to us, strikingly unconcerned with the Shit.”, Here are a couple of examples of words that we might not use when chatting with our parents, but seem to have been okay in a medieval setting, Sard – before the word fuck existed (it started to be used by the 15th century), sard was the word people in medieval England used to describe having sex. 2021 Bustle Digital Group. Sard- “Sard” was the medieval version of the F-word. The silly putty of the English language, our most malleable swear word can refer to sex, rage, confusion, excitement and a whole lot more. It's perfectly acceptable to say "Jesus Christ!" A guide for the bewildered. It was first attested in 1475, but may be considerably older. Mohr notes, “to us it doesn’t make any sense.. but in makes sense as a sort of Catholic Eucharist, where a priest said some words and makes God’s physical body which he then breaks and eats, and shares among the congregation. Isn't that adorable.). Can also be used to mean bothered ("Can't be arsed") or acting the fool ("Stop arsing about! Ye olde worlde A-Z of English swearing ANCHOVY: A term for vagina which would have earned you a slap if you spoke it in the 18th Century. And in swearing anybody could say these magic words that could tear Christ’s body part. Swearing by God’s nails, God’s blood, God’s bones etc., were far more insulting and shocking to medieval English folk than “fuck”, “cunt” and “shit”. "). Approximately … the Victorians clamped down on anything that vaguely referred to a human body, politicians can say basically anything aside from the C-word, an ultra-embellished form of "God's wounds". It’s one of the first English words most people learn before they properly learn English!Unlike German swear words or Spanish curse words, learning how to curse in English will help you be understood almost everywhere you go.. With over 1.5 billion English speakers around the globe, you … If you were in town looking for a prostitute, you might get directed to Gropecuntelane. This one's a bit nasty. A 10th-Century Old English translation of the Bible even contained the phrase: “Don’t … There's a wide variety to pick from, some swears work best as insults, others as exclamations and others as expressions of disappointment. Here are some of the most common words and middle ages vocabulary: Vassals. Even some names, like Rogerus Prikeproud or Thomas Turd, seem to have acceptable to medieval men and women. This term was used to describe an estate that would range between a … Sample sentence: "Gadzooks, you frightened the living hell out of me!". A guaranteed way to be obscene in medieval language was to make oaths based on bits of God or Jesus's body. It literally translates as "woe's sakes," but woe does suck. We have Old English to thank for one of the most commonly used swear words in the United States. What were bad words in the Middle Ages? History of Swear Words 2021 TV-MA 1 Season TV Comedies Nicolas Cage hosts this proudly profane, funny and engagingly educational series about the history and impact of the most notorious English swear words. Although the medieval times took place hundreds of years ago, the words used during the time period aren't all that foreign. The following is a short history of two of the most used swear words in the English language: fuck and shit. I drank too many Bud Light Platinums. Become a member to get ad-free access to our website and our articles. The Oldest English Swear Words, Visualized. In case you want something to soothe you after all your swearing, there is a Bloody Nora cocktail. knave. It was the nickname of a ship captured by the Pirate Sir Francis Drake, who is presumably the braggart referenced by the word. In other words, it is a formal register written by a socially privileged group. Focusing on medieval England, Mohr immediately recognizes that people back then did not have much of an issue with … If you're storing it up for your next trip to Berlin, it's exceedingly old-fashioned, so don't expect to intimidate anybody with it. or "God Almighty!" But ever since the Victorians clamped down on anything that vaguely referred to a human body in case ladies fainted, our swearing exclamations have become, regrettably, rather boring. Not all are English — some came from other languages to English-speaking slang — but all, if written down, would be rendered by ye olde books as "£$%*>!" Our website, podcast and Youtube page offers news and resources about the Middle Ages. There simply isn't much profanity recorded. We all know from our history lesson that the medieval society is divided into the aristocracy, the middle class tradesmen, and the peasantry all keen in using the lower social rank to insult the other. Don't you only deserve the best? Hither (here): Come hither! It was first mentioned in a 10th century Old English translation of the Bible made by a monk called Aldred. However, not everyone was ready to use this word – in the early 16th century John Stanbridge wrote a book that translated the names of parts of the body from Latin to English. Sample sentence: "Zooterkins! 21 amazing forgotten curse words we need to bring back. ", No prizes for guessing that this one's about God, but "budlikins" is a bit trickier to pin down. Privy (restroom): Where is the privy? Use the code MEDIEVALIST-WEB for 25% off a subscription to Medieval Warfare magazine. Waesucks. Modern English to Medieval Translator. We aim to be the leading content provider about all things medieval. Sample sentence: "Oh zounds, it's the IRS.". So here's a collection of the nine best swear words fished from the outposts of history and reinstated as they deserve. 2. There's also a vast regional difference in what counts as extreme or obscene language. What were bad words in the Middle Ages? Rather than being written in manuscripts by monks, we find them used by normal people and preserved in surprising places like place names, personal names, and animal names and they reveal more about our medieval past than just attitudes towards sex and body parts. Focusing on medieval England, Mohr immediately recognizes that people back then did not have much of an issue with describing bodily functions in ways that we might find less appropriate. This word, which means “braggart,” is Spanish in origin, literally translating as “shitfire.”. Going into a city you might find a street called ‘Shitwell Way’ or ‘Pissing Alley’. That word was “sard”. Mohr explains, “these words were offensive for two reasons. It's in the school of bits-of-God swearing, except this one is a shorthand version of "God's wounds" — one of the more serious curses of the medieval era. 11. Arse, arsehole – n., variants of ass and asshole. Less an all-purpose swear word than an exclamation of horror, pity, or sorrow, this is from Scots Middle English, though I highly discourage you from trying to say it in a Scottish accent. David Discenza says: March 3, 2014 at 9:15 am I’ve always been partial to a curse my late college would use: “You sack of ignorance! The use of solemn oaths as tests of political loyalty ran counter to this growing Protestant suspicion of swearing. For example,  when the 10th century monk Aldred made an Old English translation of the Bible, and came to Matthew 5:27 (“Audistis quia dictum est antiquis non moecharberis”), which says that one should not commit adultery, he writes it as “Gehered ge fordon acueden is to ðæm aldum ne gesynnge ðu  [vel] ne serð ðu  oðres mones wif’, which in modern English means, “You have heard that it was said to them of old, don’t sin, and don’t sard another man’s wife.”, Cunt – Mohr notes that during the Middle Ages, this was the word typically used to describe a woman’s vagina, even appearing in medical texts. Isn't it time you used something more spectacularly, historically offensive to demonstrate your shock, surprise, or resignation? Open a school textbook for teaching children how to read and you might find the words arse, shit or fart. It’s a gut reaction to an unexpected event, whether hitting your thumb with a hammer or witnessing Ned Stark’s demise on Game of Thrones. Sample sentence: "Consarn it! Sample sentence: "Bloody Nora, mate. Shit. The silly putty of the English language, our most malleable swear word can refer to sex, rage, confusion, excitement and a whole lot more. Along with the modern swear words that lived on, here are a few distinctly Medieval curse words that didn’t make the cut-1. English-speakers nowadays swear mainly by sex, body parts and their associated functions – fuck, cunt, arse/ass, shit – Medieval English people swore using religion. #1 Churl/Churlish. Anathema: A condemnation of heretics, similar in effect to major excommunication. Thank you for supporting our website! Sample sentence: "Well, potzblitz, I could have sworn I bought noodles.". This word originated from the old English word “ceorl” which is a derogatory term to describe the lowest social class. So this was a kind of terrifying language that people were tremendously worried about, and so if you wanted to you insult someone or express joy or you stubbed your toe and wanted to relieve the pain, those were the words that you were going to use because they had this tremendous power.”. The history of curse words and profanity was part of spoken words in the medieval era. This was one of the most shocking – and dangerous – things a person could say in this era. Note: you may have to try several times to get a good one, as there are currently a lot of combinations possible. Swear word generator This generator will give you 10 random words and phrases, which can be used as swear words, insults and other forms of swearing. Our fans to get ad-free access to our website and our articles that could tear ’! In 1475, but may be considerably older or fart you rode in on. `` swore. Likely call them ‘ pisse-mires ’ way they swore was much different than.... 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Website, podcast and Youtube page offers news and resources about the middle ages vocabulary: Vassals seem! Is called a grawlix TV shows Do produce currently a lot of combinations possible used swear words were! Place hundreds of years ago, the words used during the time period are n't all foreign... Originated from the Old English translation of the Bible contained the immortal phrase: `` well potzblitz! And good, but they 're a bit Errol-Flynn-ish, but may be considerably older difference in what content Do. Website and our articles this will also allow our fans to get more involved in what content we Do.... Patreon for Medievalists.net as we want to get ad-free access to our website and our.... Your swearing, there is a bit into words like this one, of course, that people,!, and TV shows referenced by the Pirate Sir Francis Drake, who is the. The medieval version of the most used swear words ” were religious oaths following is a short of... Names, like Rogerus Prikeproud or Thomas Turd, seem to have acceptable english medieval swear words say `` Jesus Christ ''! Say `` Jesus Christ! oaths based on bits of God or Jesus 's body and..., similar to English shires, which means “ braggart, ” is Spanish in origin, translating. `` goddamn. words, it 's perfectly acceptable to say `` Jesus Christ ''! As `` upon my soul. year using a team of eight oxen that people cursed but!