FWIW, the italian word “cornuto” means cuckold, but also means “horned”.
J’ai assez vécu pour voir que différence engendre haine.
Stendhal
It appears as though this expression/myth/whatever is used in places other than England. How far back does it go?
E1skeptic wrote:
I reserve the right to be as mind-numbingly bull-headedly wrong as anyone else here. I heard of the capon/spur thing through Ren Faire connections, and the tight-assed Kostume Kop who told me it would rather be caught wearing polyester than be wrong about anything medieval. The practice may have been Continental as well as English. I haven’t heard of any references to it earlier than the early 17th century, but I haven’t looked very hard.
Research? I don’t need no steenkin’ RESEARCH! (no offense, E1…)
I am pretty sure there is a reference to it in Everyman, a morality play from the 15th century.
Believe it or not, I got this from a search engine: http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_286a.html
I wonder if Dr.F had any knowledge of it… 
Those wiley Greeks. They have a word for EVERYTHING. It’s like a whole different language…
Okay, now we just need someone to be interested enough to find an early citation for the term. Any takers?
My three sources (no real serious research here, mind you, I looked in 2 online dictionarys and one book I happened to have right next to the computer!) seem to agree on a late middle ages origin for the term. The Women’s Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets claims “late medieval”, the OEM “Late middle ages” and Merriam-Webster “13th century.” If I think of it at work tomorrow, I’ll do a little more research.
Jess
Full of 'satiable curtiosity