5.0554 F Wrord Etymology (2/26)
Elaine Brennan & Allen Renear (EDITORS@BROWNVM.BITNET)
Fri, 27 Dec 1991 22:42:11 EST
Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 5, No. 0554. Friday, 27 Dec 1991.
(1) Date: Fri, 20 Dec 1991 18:34:47 EST (11 lines)
From: hans@kean.ucs.mun.ca
Subject: RE: 5.0543 F Word Etymology (2/24)
(2) Date: Sat, 21 Dec 91 11:26:47 EST (15 lines)
From: Lorne Hammond <051796@UOTTAWA>
Subject: Re: 5.0543 F Word Etymology (2/24)
(1) --------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Fri, 20 Dec 1991 18:34:47 EST
From: hans@kean.ucs.mun.ca
Subject: RE: 5.0543 F Word Etymology (2/24)
I heard, but have not verified it from the original sources, that the
F-Word is juridical language standing for "FOUND UNDER CARNAL
KNOWLEDGE." It is supposed to be quite common in the
eighteenth-century British newspapers and refers to sex with minors.
Whether this is indeed a juridical term or a folk etymology could be
checked easily by one of our OED experts on Humanist. My 1933 Shorter
OED is too proper to list the word. HANS ROLLMANN.
(2) --------------------------------------------------------------21----
Date: Sat, 21 Dec 91 11:26:47 EST
From: Lorne Hammond <051796@UOTTAWA>
Subject: Re: 5.0543 F Word Etymology (2/24)
In a very good undergraduate Victorian England course I think I was
taught that it is based on latin and is a technical term from the Scottish
legal system, refering to say the single man who has intercourse with
someone's wife. Her charge would be say, adultery, but being single he
is not being adulterous because he has no spouse. I think that is what
I recall, but no source on it. As an 8:30 Monday lecture it woke us all up.
We need someone with a background in gender & law, or an old law dictionary.
Lorne Hammond
History
University of Ottawa