Reconstruction:Middle English/fukken

This Middle English entry contains reconstructed terms and roots. As such, the term(s) in this entry are not directly attested, but are hypothesized to have existed based on comparative evidence.

Middle English

Alternative forms

• *fuken

Etymology

Of Germanic origin: Either from Old English *fuccian or from Old Norse *fukka, both from Proto-Germanic *fukkōną (“to smite; copulate”), from Proto-Indo-European *pewǵ-

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfukːən/

Verb

*fukken

1. (vulgar) to fuck (copulate)
   • 1310 December 8, court document from Cheshire, England:

     Roger Fuckebythenavele

     The earliest unambiguous use of the word in a clearly sexual context, in any stage of English. Possibly tongue-in-cheek, or directly suggestive of a depraved sexual act.

   • c. 1475 or earlier, Flen flyys:

     Non sunt in coeli, quia gxddbov xxkxzt pg ifmk. […] Fratres cum knyvys goth about and txxkxzv nfookt xxzxkt.

     Non sunt in coeli, quia fvccant vvivys of heli. […] Fratres cum knyvys goth about and svvivyt mennis vvyvis.

     They [the friars] are not in heaven, since they fuck the wives of Ely [in Cambridgeshire]. […] Friars with knives go about and swive (have sex with) men’s wives.

     Satirising Carmelite friars in the English county of Cambridgeshire. Disguised in the text by a simple code, in which each letter was replaced with the next letter in the alphabet of the time (where u and v were interchangeable, as were i and j, and uu represented w). Ely is as well a pun on the word hell. Another sentence has been included as an example of the code.

2. (possibly) to beat, strike

Conjugation

Conjugation of *fukken (weak in -ed)

infinitive	(to) *fukken, *fukke
	present tense	past tense
1st-person singular	*fukke	*fukked
2nd-person singular	*fukkest	*fukkedest
3rd-person singular	*fukketh	*fukked
subjunctive singular	*fukke
imperative singular		—
plural1	*fukken, *fukke	*fukkeden, *fukkede
imperative plural	*fukketh, *fukke	—
participles	*fukkynge, *fukkende	*fukked, *yfukked

¹Sometimes used as a formal 2nd-person singular.

Descendants

• English: fuck (see there for further descendants)
• Early Scots: *fuken
  • Middle Scots: fuk
    • Scots: fuck, fuk
• Geordie English: fook