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   An English historian has come across the word ‘fuck’ in a court case dating to the year 1310, making it the earliest known reference to the swear word. 
   
   Dr Paul Booth of Keele University spotted the name in ‘Roger Fuckebythenavele’ in the Chester county court plea rolls beginning on December 8, 1310. The man was being named three times part of a process to be outlawed, with the final mention coming on September 28, 1311. 
   
   Dr Booth believes that “this surname is presumably a nickname. 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.” 
   
   Prior to Dr. Booth’s discovery, the previous earliest use of the word was in them poem Flen flyys, written around 1475. It had a line that read “fvccant vvivys of heli”, a Latin/English mix meaning “…they fuck the wives of Ely”. Historians have come across earlier uses of the word in medieval England, but have doubted that it was being used as a sexual reference. For example, the name John le Fucker appears in 1278, but this likely could be just a different spelling for the word ‘fulcher’ which means soldier. 
   
   In his book, The F Word, Jesse Sheidlower explains “fuck is a word of Germanic origin. It is related to words in several other Germanic languages, such as Dutch, German, and Swedish, that have sexual meanings as well as meaning such as ‘to strike’ or ‘to move back and forth’.” 
   
   Dr Paul Booth is the Honouray Senior Research Fellow in History at Keele University and Co-Director of the Arts and Humanities Research Council Project: Gascon Rolls, 1317-1468. He plans on publishing an article about his discovery in the journal Notes and Queries. 
   
   See also: By God’s Bones: Medieval Swear Words ||||| 19th Century drawing by Jean Frédéric Maximilien de Waldeck via The British Museum 
   
   A historian in the UK just made an exciting discovery that's changing our understanding of the word "fuck." 
   
   Paul Booth, an honorary senior research fellow in history at Keele University, was recently digging around in the Chester county court plea rolls from December 8, 1310—and really, who hasn't dug around in there? That was when he came upon three write-ups from the court clerk, telling the sad story of a guy with the unenviable name of Roger Fuckebythenavele, or seemingly: "Roger the Navel-Fucker." 
   
   According to Themedievalists.org "fuck" popped up seemingly by accident in 1278 as part of a translation of the German word "fulcher," meaning soldier. That really wouldn't count. This, on the other hand, would be the first instance of the word being used the way we use it today, beating out recent discoveries like the one from around 1475, or one found last year from 1528. 
   
   Here is Roger the Navel-Fucker's story in its entirety, courtesy of the UK's National Archives. 
   
   1. County court of Chester, held on Tuesday after the feast of St Nicholas, 4 Edw. II, before Payn Tibotot, justiciar of Chester (8th December, 1310) A man called "Roger Fuckebythenavele" was exacted for the first time [the process preliminary to outlawry]. 
   
   
   
   2. County court of Chester, held on Tuesday after the feast of the Ascension, 4 Edw. II, before Payn Tibotot, justiciar of Chester (25th May, 1311) Roger Fukkebythenavele, exacted. 
   
   
   
   3. County court of Chester, held on Tuesday the vigil of Michaelmas, 5 Edw. II, before Payn Tibotot, justiciar of Chester (28th September, 1311) Roger Fuckebythenavel', outlawed. 
   
   What just happened to poor Roger? Granted, being "outlawed," means banished, but why the horrible moniker? Was the court clerk just being a dick, or is that Roger's real last name? To find out, we got in touch with Paul Booth, the guy who made the discovery, to ask for his expert opinion on what all this means. 
   
   VICE: What's the significance of this discovery? 
   
   Paul Booth: The significance is the occurrence of (possibly) the earliest known use of the word "fuck" that clearly has a sexual connotation. 
   
   What were you doing when you found this? 
   
   Part of what I am doing in my retirement is to study the legal records of Cheshire for the turbulent reign of Edward II (1307-27), which are extremely rich. This name simply popped out of the parchment. Roger had failed to answer at the county court, is being solemnly summoned ('exacted') and finally outlawed. 
   
   Was the clerk cracking a joke, figuring that Roger would never know about it? 
   
   As the name is written three times—spelled slightly differently each time—it is unlikely to be the case of the clerk just inserting a joke name, I think. Even if it were, that does not take away the significance of the use of the word 'fuck' in a name. 
   
   So could it be his real name? 
   
   If it is a real name—a nickname, presumably—there seem to me to be two possible explanations for its application to Roger. First, that it applies to an actual event—a clumsy attempt at sexual intercourse by an 'Inexperienced Copulator' (my name for Roger), revealed to the world by a revengeful former girlfriend. Fourteenth-century revenge porn perhaps? Or it could be a rather elaborate way of describing someone regarded as a "halfwit"—i.e., that is the way that he would think of performing the sexual act. 
   
   Will this instance end up in the Oxford English Dictionary? 
   
   I have told the OED about it, and it's up to them what they will do. You might like to ask them, and let me know what they say. 
   
   Got any other great curse word stories from digging through these archives? 
   
   I haven't come across any other names of this type myself, but my pal at Keele, Dr. Philip Morgan, tells me of names such as Hunfridus de aureo testiculo—Humphrey of the golden testicle, and Rogerus deus salvat feminas—Roger God-save-women, as well as the Winchester tenant, Alwin Clawecunt—speaks for itself. 
   
   Follow Mike Pearl on Twitter.
target: – What's in a name? Just a crass term that's endured for centuries, if this holds any water. An English history researcher says he's spotted the earliest-known "f-word" on record in court documents from 1310, the Telegraph reports. Paul Booth came upon a reference to "Roger F***ebythenavele"—likely the guy's nickname, Booth says—while analyzing court records during the stormy rule of Edward II (1307-27). The name is "written clearly, and three times, and I think that shows it's not a joke," says Booth. Looks like F***ebythenavele was summoned twice to court in Cheshire, in December of 1310 and May of 1311, and finally outlawed on September 28, 1311. A court clerk might have altered the guy's name for fun, Booth admits, but short of that he sees two explanations. "First, that it applies to an actual event—a clumsy attempt at sexual intercourse by an 'Inexperienced Copulator' (my name for Roger), revealed to the world by a revengeful former girlfriend," he tells Vice.com. "Fourteenth-century revenge porn perhaps?" Or it might be an "elaborate way of describing someone regarded as a 'halfwit'—ie, that is the way that he would think of performing the sexual act." Before this, the earliest f-word on record was the phrase (translated from a Latin/English mix) "…they f**k the wives of Ely" from the poem "Flen flyys," circa 1475, Medievalists.net reports. The word has Germanic roots and is related to words that have "sexual meanings as well as meaning[s] such as 'to strike' or 'to move back and forth,'" writes Jesse Sheidlower in his book The F Word.