What the fack is this? It appears to be an all-purpose interjection, but when I searched for it on Google, all I came up with was quotes from Tom Jones. If it were obscene, I think the author would have used a dash – he writes d–nation, for instance.
So, anyone know what sort of word is it is and where it came from?
Anyway, from OED:
The word "fack"is an alternative to the obsolete word “fake.” Not “fake” as in “not real,” though. This word means “a fold.” One of the examples given was “How many facks in that rope,” meaning “folds” or maybe even “coils.” Apparently, it’s a nautical term (as OED notes it as such).
Well, thanks for the response, but ropes and coils don’t seem to have anything to do with it in this context:
“I don’t pretend to give your la’ship advice, whereof your la’ship knows much better than I can pretend to, being but a servant; but, i-fackins! no father in England should marry me against my consent. " – Tom Jones, Henry Fielding
And a couple of variations I’ve found:
“By my fackins, though, Master Toby,” cried the spokesman, breaking off in the very exordium of his address, “if her grace should ask my name after all, I shall e’en tell her that I’m Barney Mumpford, that I have been a groom seven years, and that the post-master of the great stables is vacant; for I may as well have it as another, and a nod’s as good as a wink to a blind horse.” – Essex & The Maid of Honour, Reuben Apsley
“Y’fackins, but you shan’t ask him!” – The Gentleman Dancing Master, William Wycherly
Another WAG:
“Fackins” is a variant of “fackings,” which means “faith.” Don’t know the etymology, though, or the relevance of the “i-” prefix.
I’m not sure why the hyphen, but I read the “i-” as in.
Thanks for the replies. “In faith” and “by my faith” make sense. It would have been nice to have an etymology and other usage examples, but I won’t get greedy. You’ve restored my fackings in the SDMB.
OK. An old thread, but if anybody cares (or remembers), I think I found something else that bolsters the idea that “fackins” (or “fackings”) meaning somehow related to the word “faith.” In Act II, Scene IV of “Romeo and Juliet” there are a couple of exchanges using the phrase “i’ faith,” which is somewhat close to i-fackins, assuming that those terms are cognates. The term might be used in other places in Shakspeare’s plays, but this is one that I just happened to run across recently:
http://www.worldwideschool.org/library/books/lit/shakespeare/tragedies/romeoandjuliet/chap11.html