by Melissa Mohr
Baal, 63, 67
Yahweh’s triumph over, 69–70, 73, 75
bad language, medieval views of. See foul words
balls, 49, 51, 75, 89, 97, 162, 215, 229
Baudelaire, Charles, 3, 6, 8
Bayeux Tapestry, 114
bedrooms, 158, 232
bestiality, 57, 151, 213
Bible
Deuteronomy, 60, 65, 68, 70, 75, 81, 85, 89
Ephesians, 85–86
excrement in, 80–82
Exodus, 57n, 60–62, 70
Ezekiel, 64, 83
Galatians, 58
Genesis, 55–60, 65, 73–75, 84
genital oaths in, 73–75
Hebrew (Old Testament), 55–77, 80–85, 87, 181
humor in, 58
idle speech in, 86–87, 90
interpretations of, 84–87, 118–19
Isaiah, 60, 62, 70
James, 78
Jeremiah, 62, 64, 68
Joshua, 68
Judges, 63
1 Kings, 69, 81
2 Kings, 80
kissing the, 182
Leviticus, 61, 67n, 69–70, 75, 81, 89
Matthew, 79, 87–89, 116, 179, 236
New Testament, 58, 77–80, 85–87, 90, 108, 180
Numbers, 60, 69
other gods in, 63–67
“priestly” authors of, 70, 75
Psalms, 60, 70
1 Samuel, 89
Song of Solomon, 83–84, 241
Third Commandment, 60–62, 120, 127
translation of, 67n, 81–85, 88–90, 195
Vulgate, 81–82, 88, 90
See also Asherah; Baal; polytheism
binding spells. See cursing
blasphemy, 11, 62, 181
bloody, 209–12, 215, 216, 217, 218, 219, 225, 227, 228, 229, 232
bollocks, 89–90, 96, 116
Bono (U2), 7, 11
botanical pornography, 197, 239
bourgeoisie. See social class
Boyle, Robert, 142
Bradlaugh, Charles, 180–82
breasts, 149–50, 162–63, 220, 222
British English, 89, 175n, 195–96, 202, 210, 221, 224–25, 238n
Browning, Robert, 189–91
Bruce, Lenny, 37n, 44, 254–55
bugger and buggery, 17, 151, 174, 213–15, 218, 225, 227, 240
bullae, 35, 43
caco, 17, 22–24, 31–32, 150
Caesar, Julius, 43
capitalism, effect on oaths, 131, 141–42
Carlin, George, 15, 244–46
Carmelites, 152
catamitus, 35–37
Catholics and Catholic Church, 52, 128, 178, 182n, 199, 234, 257–58
apotropaic obscenity and, 101–3
beliefs, 61, 108–11, 117–19, 121–28, 138–39
persecution of, 129–30, 132–38
Catullus, 31–32, 42, 47, 147, 166
censorship, 152–53, 168–70, 184, 189, 195, 228–29
chamber pots, 144, 159, 199–201, 202
Chapman, George, 166
Charles I, 163, 169
Charles II, 140, 176
Chaucer, Geoffrey, 8, 61, 96–97, 165–66, 205
“The Miller’s Tale,” 107
“The Pardoner’s Tale,” 120
“The Parson’s Tale,” 112
“The Wife of Bath’s Tale,” 107–8
children, 12, 41, 53, 63, 123, 127, 147–48, 210, 242, 245–46, 249
Christ, Jesus, 4, 58, 84, 87, 112, 179, 232
the body of, 9, 117, 120–21, 123–24, 126–27, 138–39
Sermon on the Mount, 77–80, 179
Church, declining power of, 179–82, 231
Cicero, 51–52, 151
cinaedus, 25, 35–39, 43
circumcision, 17, 41, 58, 67, 94
civility and civilizing process, 4, 92, 103–6, 131, 156–65, 190, 206–7, 210, 223, 253
Claudius, Emperor, 34
Cleland, John (Fanny Hill), 196–97, 239
clientship, institution of, 47–48
clitoris, 27–29, 98
closets, 160, 163
clothing, social meaning of, 17, 36, 41, 43, 105–6, 141, 162–64, 176, 192–93
cock, 17, 29, 53, 175n, 193–94, 242, 248, 252
cocksucker, 37n, 217–18, 245, 246
complaints against swearers, 124–25, 127
compurgation, 114–15
condescension, 162–65
conduct books, 103–5, 162
connotation, 6–7, 9, 90
Constitution, United States, 134, 182–83, 234–35
continence. See self-control
copia, 146–48, 150
Cotgrave, Randall, 151n, 191, 213
counterculture, 1960s, 230–31
courtesy, 96, 104–5, 162
covenants, 55–59, 66–67, 73, 75, 77
Covent Garden, 220–21
crap, 203–5
creatures, oaths by, 118–19, 121
culus, 17, 30–31, 94
cunnilingus, 20, 25, 37–39, 52, 220
cunnus, 17, 28, 49, 51, 147, 148–49
as insult, 21–22, 30–31
as vox propria, 20, 45
cunt, 8–10, 15, 175, 189, 214, 238, 245
in dictionaries, 94, 111, 149–51, 191, 212, 221, 247
etymology, 19
first recorded use, 20
in literature, 27–28, 30, 107, 147, 167, 173–75, 189, 241, 244
in names, 20, 93–94
as vox propria, 90, 94, 96
Curll, Edmund, 169, 234
cursing, 10–11, 44, 174, 214
God’s self-, 56–59, 66–67
Roman, 44–45
Dampierre, the Marquise de, 8
Davenant, William (The Wits), 169
death as taboo, 257
Decimus Valerius Asiaticus, 33
decorum, 92, 238
age of, 205–6
Roman linguistic, 46–52
defamation and slander. See insults in court records
defecation, 23–24, 32, 81, 103–5, 117, 159–60, 205
dictionaries
American English, 9, 223, 231, 246
foreign language-English, 89, 150–51, 151n, 154, 191
Latin-English, 94–95, 111, 146–50
Oxford English Dictionary, 6, 27, 49n, 94, 99, 146n, 184, 189
slang, 175n, 178, 190, 195, 217–22, 228
dildoes, 221
double entendres, 166–67, 191
Doubting Thomas, 124–25
drama, 97, 166–70, 210, 224
Dunbar, William, 152, 155
dysphemism, 90, 198, 203
Edward VI, 131
effeminacy. See masculinity, priapic
El, chief Canaanite deity, 63, 66–67, 70, 73, 272n
election notices, 46
elegies, 46, 49–50
Elias, Norbert, 92, 106, 156, 160
Elizabeth I, 53, 132, 134, 136, 140–44, 160, 162–63
elohim, 64–65, 70, 272n
Elyot, Thomas, 146–50, 165
English language, history of, 19–20, 52–53, 88, 91–92, 282n
envy, 42–43, 102–3
epic, 46, 51, 105, 143–44, 247
epigrams, 27, 46–49, 50, 51, 94, 184n See also Martial
epithalamia (wedding songs), 42
epithets, 6, 9, 225–26, 210n, 232, 234, 237–38, 254, 256
equivocation, 129–38, 142
Erasmus, 103, 105, 146–47, 184–85
Eucharist
Catholic, 117, 121–24, 126–27, 138
Lollard, 117–18
Protestant, 138–39
Real Presence of God in, 78, 123, 139
Spiritual Presence of God in, 138–40
euphemism, 21, 220, 229, 248, 257
Biblical, 83–85
deplored, 192–96
drivers of, 198–99
eighteenth- and nineteenth- century, 176–77, 191–209, 254
medieval, 107�
��8
as middle class, 193, 206–7
as opposite of swearing, 197–98, 207
expletives, 7, 10–11, 61, 178, 210, 215, 217, 245
The Famous Victories of Henry V, 168
Farmer, John and William Henley, 195, 211, 217, 220, 225
fascini, 17, 35, 43
Federal Communications Commission (FCC), 7, 244–46, 247
fellatio, 16–17, 27, 37–39, 52, 220
feudal system, 113–14, 141–42, 156
fighting words, 22, 99–101, 233–39, 254, 255, 273n
“the finger,” 36, 249
fireplaces, 158, 201
First World War. See World War I
Florio, John, 150–51, 154, 156, 165
flyting, 152, 155–56, 247–48
Forum of Augustus, 39, 41
foul words, 90, 108–12, 143–48
foutre, 89, 151, 281
Fox, George, 78–79
frig, 151, 174–75, 238n
French as insult, 159, 165
French language, 91, 159, 167, 198, 200–202, 220
fuck, 6–7, 10, 15, 17, 97, 185, 214–15, 245–46
as curse, 44
in dictionaries, 151, 212, 225, 247
earliest uses, 151–52, 215–17
etymology, 153–54
in legal cases, 235, 237–39
in literature, 25, 166, 173–74, 228–30, 240
as obscene, 154–55, 175, 207
fullers, 24
futuo, 17, 24–26, 29, 30, 33, 47, 147, 183
women’s inability to perform, 26, 27
Garnet, Henry, 137
gender. See masculinity, priapic; sexual schema
genitals, 29, 72, 87, 96, 100, 128
female, 27, 30, 52, 85, 98, 107, 221
as locus of sacred, 41–42, 73–74, 103, 256
male, 17, 39–43, 75, 84, 89, 99, 109, 197, 221
See also cock; cunt; mentula
genres, hierarchy of, 45–52, 83
God. See Bible; Yahweh
Gone with the Wind, 232–33
graffiti, 6, 20–21, 25, 27, 31, 46–47, 51, 229, 251
Graves, Robert, 228–29, 240
Great Rebuilding, 157–60
Grose, Francis, 175n, 178, 219–21
Gunpowder Plot, 137
Harington, John, 143–45, 159–60, 163–65, 201
Harold, Earl of Wessex, 113–14
Harris’s List of Covent Garden Ladies, 220–22
hate speech, 238–39
Hawes, Stephen, 121–22
Hebrew language, 57, 64–65, 67, 73, 81–85, 95
Henry VIII, 104, 131, 140, 143
Henry, Matthew, 84
Herbert, Henry, Master of the Revels, 168–70
Hicklin Rule, 242
Hittites, 57
homosexual, lack of Roman category for, 17, 30–31, 36–37, 42
See also masculinity, priapic
housing, 103–5, 157–59
Hunt, Leigh, 198–99
insults in court records, 99–101, 117–19, 154–55, 234–39
Internet, 5, 246, 255
irrumatio, 16–17, 25, 31–33, 38
Israelites, 62–64, 66–69, 75, 79–81, 84–85
Jerome, Saint, 87
Jesuits, 129–30, 137, 174–75
Johnson, Samuel, 10, 13, 223
jokes, 16, 33, 58, 86, 107, 140, 166, 199–200, 227
Jonson, Ben, 167
Joyce, James (Ulysses), 239–43
kissing, 107, 111, 167, 170, 182, 198, 220
Kuntillet Ajrud, 71–72
landica, 17, 27–29, 51, 55
Latin language
in Britain, 19
history of, 52–53
as language for male initiates, 53, 147
obscenities as polite English terms, 52–53
as source of euphemism, 198, 201–2
latrines, 23, 31, 46, 159
Lawrence, D. H. (Lady Chatterley’s Lover), 228, 243–44
Ledoux, Claude-Nicholas, 40
legal regulation of swearing, 179–83
Act Against Jesuits, Seminary Priests (1585), 129
Act to Restrain Abuses of Players (1606), 168
Chaplinsky v. State of New Hampshire (1942), 234–35
Cohen v. California (1971), 237–38
fighting words, 233–39
obscenity, 169, 239–46
lesbians. See tribades
Lewis, C. S., 100–101
libertines, 176
Lindisfarne Gospels, 88–89, 145
literacy, Roman, 47
Lollards and Lollardy, 78, 89, 116–19, 121, 126
ludi florales (games of Flora), 42
Luther, Martin, 78, 116
Lyndsay, Sir David, 86
manners, 104–5, 162, 176
Manning, Cardinal Henry, 181
Manning, Frederic, 228, 240
Marlowe, Christopher, 49–50
Marryat, Captain Frederick, 192–93
Marston, John, 145
Martial, 147, 183
biography, 47–48
Epigrams, 16, 21, 22, 23, 25–28, 30, 37–38, 48, 189
status as client, 47–48
Marvell, Andrew, 52
masculinity, priapic, 29–39, 42–44, 47–48
Melanchthon, Philipp, 78
mental reservation, 130, 135, 137
mentula, 17, 25–26, 39–45, 48–49, 51
Milton, John, 52
miracle-of-the-host exempla, 123–24
modesty, 23, 34–35, 41, 51, 82
Moloch, 63, 68
monotheism, 63, 65–66, 80, 272n
moralisation of status words, 100–101
Motion Picture Production Code (Hays Code), 232
mouth
in oral sex, 31–32, 38, 220
as sacred, 37–39
sins of, 109–10
Mutunus Tutunus, 42
mystery plays, 97, 107
nakedness, 41, 103, 105–6, 162–64, 170–71, 183–84, 186–89
Nashe, Thomas, 145–46
Nationalism, 223–25
nigger, 5, 224, 232–33, 247, 252, 255–56
as fighting word, 236
as neutral or positive, 10, 225, 233
as “worst” word, 9–10, 17n, 231, 233
nominative determinism, 205
Norman Conquest, 91, 113–14
Norman French language, 91, 93, 159, 282n
oaths
“Bloody Question,” 134
continuing use in Catholic countries, 258
effects on God, 9, 112–13, 120–26, 139, 253
encouraged by God, 61–62, 120
ex officio, 133–34
false, 115–16, 119–20, 130–31, 135
forbidden by Christ, 77–80
frequency of, 177–78
God’s own, 59–60
on God’s body parts, 120–26
in Hebrew Bible, 55–80
in legal system and government, 114–16, 127, 135–37, 179–83
of loyalty, 140
proper or sincere, 7, 55, 60–62, 79, 90, 112–19, 127, 180–81
on stage, 166–68
vain, 7–8, 61–62, 91, 112, 120–21, 177–79
weakening power of, 131, 137–42, 177–83
as worship, 67–68, 120
See also covenants; vows and vowing
obscenities
as apotropaic, 43–44, 102–3, 128
in the Bible, 80–90, 206
in cipher, 152–53
as common names, 20, 93–94, 100
connection between sex and violence in, 26
in dictionaries, 94–95, 98, 143, 146–51
growing power of, 154, 156, 175–77, 215
in literature, 96–97, 165–70, 247
as magical, 43–44
medical texts, 96
as religious language, 18, 41–45
as revealing “truth,” 41, 183–86
sexual as “worse” than excrementa
l, 111–12, 148–50
See also racial slurs; self-control
obscenity
definition, 17–18
etymology, 17
first English uses of term, 143–46
vs. obscene words, 239–41
prosecutions for, 169
Oldcastle, Sir John, 116
oratory, 46, 50
orthophemism, 198
Ovid, 34, 49–50, 166
Oxford English Dictionary. See dictionaries
paki, 9–10, 225, 231, 239, 256
palimpsests, 64
Palsgrave, John, 150–51, 154, 165
Pan, 42
papal bull, 132
Parliamentary oaths, 179–82
Partridge, Eric, 228–29
pastoral texts, 108–12, 119–21, 124, 127, 254
Paul, Saint, 58, 86
pederasty, 35
pedicatio, 17, 21, 25, 29–31, 32–33, 38, 43, 213
penis, 19, 41, 51–52, 53
Pepys, Samuel, 158
perjury. See oaths, false
pilgrimage badges, 101–3, 132
pintel, 98–99, 102, 112
piss, 15, 17, 22–24, 50, 80–82, 93, 95–96, 98–99, 111, 150, 154, 199–200, 206, 245
Polari, 153
polytheism
ancient Near Eastern, 63
Israelite, 63–64, 80
traces in the Bible of, 64–77
See also Asherah; Baal; El
Pompeii, 20, 24, 46, 229
pop music, 247
Pope, Alexander, 10–11, 93n, 177–78, 189, 196
pornography, 169, 196, 214–15, 231, 234, 239
Priapea, 33, 47, 48–49
Priapus, 18, 33, 34, 42, 49, 254
priests
Biblical, 69, 70, 75
Catholic, 88–89, 107, 108, 129–30, 132–33, 135–38, 157
Hittite, 57n
role in Eucharist, 117, 121, 123, 124, 126–27
Roman, 42
privacy, 7, 10, 23, 39–43, 103–7, 156–62, 205, 289n
privies, 23, 117, 144, 158–59, 160, 163
See also latrines; toilets
profanity, 10, 11, 219, 232
prostitutes and prostitution, 24, 26, 34, 42, 45, 46, 47, 89, 93, 100, 101, 151, 189, 214, 220–21, 222
Protestants and Protestantism, 4, 19, 92, 116, 129, 130–32, 135, 137, 138, 142, 180, 253, 258
proverbs, 11, 51, 183–85, 209
pubic hair, 20–21, 73–74, 85, 186–88
pudicitia. See modesty
Purgatory, 132–33
Puritanism, 92, 133–34, 137, 176, 255
Quakers and Quakerism, 78–80, 179–80, 182
racial slurs, 6, 9–10, 17, 177, 223–26, 231–33, 236, 238–39, 252, 254–55
radio, 228, 230, 244–47
“The Ram in a Thicket,” 76
Ranters, 170–72, 176
rap music, 231, 247–48
Read, Allen Walker, 13, 229, 231, 251
recusants, 133
Richard I, 91
Rochester, John Wilmot, Earl of, 173–76, 178
Rothschild, Lionel de, 179–81
Ruskin, John, 186–89, 190, 191
Salomons, David, 180
sard, 14, 88–89, 97, 112, 145–46, 151, 154
