# The F-Word

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-f-word/182584>\
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\
**Created:** [June 18, 2003, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-f-word/182584 "2003-06-18T00:24:06Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![babette](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c89c15/32.png) [@babette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/babette)\
**Post date:** [June 18, 2003, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-f-word/182584/1 "2003-06-18T00:24:06Z")

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On the subject of this distinguished word, here is an excerpt from Claiborne’s Our Marvelous Native Tongue  
“The speech of sailors (or soldiers) is, well, salty: many tavern discussions must have touched on _fokkinge_ . Equally “low” Dutch contributions were _crappe_ and _bugger_ , the latter of which the Dutch had borrowed from the French.”  
Ahhh…the wonder of human ingenuity…

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**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\
**Post date:** [June 19, 2003, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-f-word/182584/2 "2003-06-19T09:54:20Z")

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Greetings and welcome to the SDMB, **babette**. I take it you’re referring to Cecil Adam’s article: [What’s the origin of the “F” word"?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_268b.html)

“Bugger” came from the Middle English _bougre_, from Middle French, from Medieval Latin _Bulgarus_ (meaning, of course, the Bulgarians).

“Crap”, also according to Merriam-Webster, came from the Middle English _crappe_, meaning chaff.

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**Author:** ![vodyanoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/c68b51/32.png) [@vodyanoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vodyanoi)\
**Post date:** [June 19, 2003, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-f-word/182584/3 "2003-06-19T15:42:57Z")

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In “The Cartoon History of the Universe,” Larry Gonick claimed that the root of the word ‘bugger’ was from ‘bougre,’ the french term for the sect now known as the Cathars. One alleged belief of this group was that the body was a bad thing, and so having children was discouraged if not actively forbidden. However, marriage was allowed, so the type of sex going on was not the kind sanctioned by the RC church. I’ll let your imagination figure out how the connection to buggery was made from there.

Here’s a website that discusses this as well:

[http://www.geocities.com/bogomil1bg/Buggerstudy.html](http://www.geocities.com/bogomil1bg/Buggerstudy.html)

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**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\
**Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-f-word/182584/4 "2003-06-20T06:34:34Z")

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[From here.](http://www.bizarremag.com/ask/words.php)

> [@](#):
>
> Bugger … being a Middle English term, deriving from the French, used to describe enemies of the Catholic Church, specifically the Bogomils. This large and influential religious sect, who preached across in Eastern Europe, were particularly popular in Bulgaria and Serbia, and Bogomil became the state religion of Bosnia and Hungary until the Muslims invaded the Balkans in the 14th century.
> 
> The Bogomils were a major influence on the Cathars, or Albigenians (named after the Languedoc town of Albi where they were based), a powerful Christian movement that became large enough to pose a serious threat to the Catholic Church.

That’s the long way home. The term we know today as “bugger” did derive, originally, from the Latin name for the region we now call Bulgaria. But, of course, that’s not to say one is the other. 🙂

BTW: Larry Gonick’s books are cool. 🙂