OFF: Swearing

[Jon Browne]

In article <2188424.3090067106 at cea20.joh.cam.ac.uk>, "Carl E. Anderson"
<cea20 at CUS.CAM.AC.UK> writes
>     Well, it undoubtedly predates Wallace, though whether anyone might
>have used it in that context is debateable.  It's earliest recorded use is
>borrowed into Latin to describe the impious conduct of some monks--at Ely,
>I think, actually.
>     It might have been there used not so much as an obscenity in the
>modern sense, but as a secular word to underline the improperly secular
>activity of the monks.
>
>Cheers,
>Carl

I was led to believe it was circa 13thC and was an acronym for Fornicate
Under Command of the King.
--
Jon Browne