A medieval researcher say he’s found the earliest written example of the F-word. So, two things. One, this story will involve the phrases ‘eff’ or ‘F-word.’ Two, it’ll totally be worth it
Dr. Paul Booth is an honorary senior research fellow at Keele University in England. Recently, he was going through some medieval legal documents. Specifically, the Chester County court plea rolls from December 8th, in the year 1310.
In the notes written by the court clerk, he found three examples of an interesting name: ‘Roger [Eff]bythenavel.’ (As in ‘Roger Eff-By-the-Navel.’) Or to put it in more current terms:’Roger The-Guy-Who-Tried-To-Have-Bellybutton-Sex.’
Dr. Booth says it probably wasn’t the guy’s real last name, but a derogatory nickname. But that it WAS how people referred to him. In other words, the clerk didn’t put it in the notes as a joke.
Booth: “I suggest it could either mean an actual attempt at copulation by an inexperienced youth, later reported by a rejected girlfriend. Or an equivalent of the word ‘dimwit,’ i.e., a man who might think that that was the correct way to go about it.”
Or as Dr. Booth puts it: “fourteenth century revenge porn.” Roger was accused of a serious criminal charge, but it’s not clear what it was. And he was eventually kicked out of the county.
