The Origins Of The F*** Word?

[Jeffism15]

I heard a story recently that the origins of American Englishes worst curse word came from the Medieval Times when literacy was low. I was told that the F word acronym for something, which i cannot remember.

Is any of this true, or just a good story to appease the masses?
Thanks

[Patty O'Furniture]

For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge (http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_268b.html).

[Yue Han]

a) No, it's not based on an acronym.

b) It's a basic Anglo-Saxon word meaning, "to have sex with". When the Normans invaded a lot of everyday A/S words were replaced by Latinate terms, eg fuck-->copulate

c) This has been discussed 18 millions times. Use the Search, please. It's in the upper right hand corner.

--John

[JeffB]

What Yue Han said. And what Cecil said in Attrayant's link. Words that predate the 20th century are almost never acronyms. For the definitive work on fuck, check out [url="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0375706348/o/qid=984778029/sr=8-1/ref=aps_sr_b_1_1/107-2869591-0925333"]The F-Word[/b] by Jesse Sheidlower.

[JeffB]

Oops. Some mod may want to fix that post.

Here's the correct link: The F-Word (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0375706348/o/qid=984778029/sr=8-1/ref=aps_sr_b_1_1/107-2869591-0925333) by Jesse Sheidlower.

[Llardball]

I remember it being an acronym for Fornication Under Consent of the King. I believe this was used in Spain some time ago. Apparently, it meant that certain people had to ask permission to fornicate for reasons unbeknownst to me.

[tomndebb]

Llardball, please note that your acronym was addressed by Cecil in the link provided by Attrayant.

It is still a false etymology:

-we know where the word came from (a Germanic word meaning thrust or strike) and
-acronyms tend to be a rather recent phenomenon in English.

I am curious as to the origin of the story that the acronym you heard was Spanish in origin. As nearly as I can work it out, had the phrase started in Spanish, the acronym would have been CSCR.

[handy]

The OP said F***. Lets see, what word could it be? fork, from, ?