Profanity in Historic Fiction

[The Shadow One]

Okay, here's the question:

When did we start using the, uh, word? You know the one I mean. The one that always makes your mother hiccup when you say it.

Seriously. I'm always a bit taken back when I read a novel or story set a hundred years ago or more and everyone's using the word. Did they really use it back then?

My thought is no. But I can see two schools of thought.

First, we'll call it the Pressfield School (after Steven Pressfield, who wrote Gates of Fire, etc.). His six hundred Spartans curse like sailors. Strong sailors. Sailors who haven't been to port in a year.

As I was reading the book, I found actually found myself saying, "Eh, Steven, I'm not sure they would actually talk like a bunch of drunken marines. Maybe, but probably not."

The second school, let's call it the Sahara school (after the author of The Killer Angels). He actually states in his introduction that he based the language in his book on the written form (i.e. letters and other correspondence) of the time.

Here's my opinion (I welcome yours). I don't think they did use the work like we do, F**ing this and F**ing that. Why, because we use it, and it appears in our writing. I mean, it is everywhere in our culture. Shakespear used curses in his plays, so cursing was as enjoyable then as it is now. But I don't think they used that word.

Or did they?

I am unsettled on this issue.

[King Henry V]

The one which rhymes with duck is a good old Saxon word , cousin of the present day german profanity (ficken, verb).

[CrackedAxe]

I have to disagree with you there, Henry, I've read that the word was of Dutch origin and came into use around medieval times. It came into use in the English language around the same time. Of course, thats only a theory, and the exact origins of the word aren't quite clear. As for use as a swear word, well, I think it was used as an expletive even back then, though again, this isn't clear.

[King Henry V]

I thinks its more likely to come from Saxon German, ancestor of English, rather than Dutch.

[CrackedAxe]

It's possible, all I know is that English traders in medieval times picked up the word from the Dutch, it's original ancestry may be elsewhere. Do you know the original saxon word? As far as I know it doesn't appear in any original saxon writing, but then, most surviving saxon writings in the UK were written by monks, so it's highly unlikely it would appear in their records!

[RabidGibbon]

Re: Using the the word in historic fiction, I'm of the view that the word is simply there as a substitute for a strong curse word of the time.

After all I don't know any ancient greek/latin/persian swear words, nor am I writing in ancient greek/latin/persian so I just throw in strong language that I can relate to.

It may not be historically accurate but I suspect that this is what the "pressfield" school of authors are thinking whilst writing.