If we had once thought that
"fichtre"
would one day be an obsolete, almost laughable way of swearing... Because when it appeared in the 19th century, it was not!
"Fichtre"
is a euphemism for
foutre,
after the verb to
file
.
It first meant
"to possess carnally"
, through the Latin
futuere, "to have intercourse with a woman"
.
Likewise, if you swear to your great gods with
"sapristi"
today, we will look at you with surprise as this word has shed its coarse meaning.
Originally, it was a little chastised word... The editorial staff invites you to rediscover these vulgarities of yesteryear with nameless triviality.
Watch out for eyes and ears.
● Jarnicoton
Blasphemous.
This is how this oath was qualified, the use of which the Church disapproved of.
Now cute and quaint,
'jarnicoton'
was once a popular, outdated mitigation of
'jarnidieu'
, which means
'I deny God'
.
It appears in the 16th century, as an alteration of the expression
I renounce Cotton
.
Father Coton, confessor of Henri IV, would have asked the king to use this euphemism instead of
Jarnidieu!
, according to the French Academy.
The word declined in several tasty forms:
"jarnibleu"
,
"jarnigoi"
,
"jarnigué"
... Note that
"jarnicoton"
also meant
“intelligence”
, and
“jarnigoine”
is synonymous with
“talent, resourcefulness”
, specifies the Treasury of the French language.
● Dunce
Who would suspect that this sustained synonym of
"bad student"
once meant
"fool, simpleton"
?
Its meaning has evolved a lot because when it appears in the 13th century in French, it means
“crab”
, informs the thesaurus.
It is moreover this etymology which gave rise to the meaning of
"null and lazy pupil"
, by allusion to the oblique march of the crab, whose progression is slow and difficult.
“Cancre”
appears as a curse in Rabelais:
“Do not sup, by the devil?
Dunce!
Let's go, Brother Jean, lunch”
(
Third Book)
.
The word is very vulgar in the author.
It designates
“an inflammation of the genitals which was due to syphilis”
, according to Sonia Perbal and Christophe Brichant in
Jurons, onomatopoeias et interjections.
● Foutriquet of mole balls
This phrase, refined if any, was born from the pen of Céline, one of the most creative authors of insults and other flowery words.
A
"foutriquet"
is a puny, small, insignificant person.
It is derived from
"futre"
, which means
"to possess carnally"
, then
"to make love"
, according to the dictionary.
As for
"burne"
, it is conspicuous by its absence from traditional dictionaries.
There is an exact definition on TV5 Monde:
"male genital gland, producer of sperm"
.
● Bugger
A
“bad bugger”
.
The formula is hardly understood these days.
She slumbers between the yellowed pages of books of yesteryear.
But did you know that a
"bugger"
was a
"sodomite"
, before designating a
"bad guy"
or a
"good man"
?
He was first a
"heretic"
, through the Latin
bulgarus, "Bulgarian"
, as related by the Trésor de la langue française.
The latter were considered heretics, especially as a population from which the famous Bogomiles, of dualistic tendency, came.
They were opponents of the ecclesiastical hierarchy, denying several sacraments, including marriage, and were long persecuted.
In the 13th century, this is the word that became
bogresse
, that is:
“person who engages in debauchery against nature”
.
Now dare to reuse it in society...
● Vertuchou
It is almost endearing.
However, whoever uttered such a word in the fifteenth century had to confess it quickly.
"Vertuchou"
is a euphemistic oath, certainly, but which is nonetheless crude... because it is very blasphemous.
It is the alteration of
"by the virtue of God"
, we read in the CNRTL.
It was used as an expletive to mark astonishment, indignation, or resolution.
It is first written
virtue cabbage,
before the two words are assembled.
“Vertuchoux!
if I ever get married, this superfluity will be my necessities”
, writes Marivaux nicely in
Le Jeu de l'amour et du chance.
