swear word

[kopend]

is it true the word ---- comes from a london street called great ---- street which was frequented by prositutes but was destroyed by the great fire of london . i always thought it was a shortened version of a latin word with a t on the end? i hope this question doesn't offend anyone

[Quizmonster]

I assume you refer to the c-word...in which case it came, not from Latin, but from Old Norse and Germanic sources spelt 'kunta/kunte'. The middle English version was exactly like today's but with an 'e' on the end. The street you mention was not 'Great' but 'Grope'....

[Quizmonster]

I should have added above that there was a Latin word with the same three opening letters as our modern English word plus 'nus'. This meant the female pudenda. However, as you can see, there was no 't' sound in it; that came from sources as described above.
(I've written this in a deliberately vague manner to protect the innocent as well as to ensure - as best I can - that my response actually appears!)

[jno]

the other way round kopend: the word in question is much older, as QM says; but a London street frequented by prostitutes was (for obvious reasons) called Grope**** Lane - a written mention of this is believed to be the first known use of the word in English, though of course the word would have been spoken much earlier.

It's hard to believe there's no link with the Latin word cunnus, but there's no evidence that I know of.

[Englishbird]

Germaine Greer did a report on the origins of **** for Balderdash and Piffle on BBC two, and although some executive was obviously stoned the day he got brave enough to allow that, they now seem to have recovered their embarrassment enough not to have written it up online. gropec*ntelane was dated c 1230.

If anyone is interested there is a very clever and funny 'Vagina Monologue' on the word ****. And about reclaiming it for woman.

[mallorn]

Amusingly, Grope**** Lane in the City of London is now known as Threadneedle Street.

Home of the Bank of England.

[henneth]

Streets with the same name could have also been found in Bristol, Nottingham, Newcastle, Dublin and Oxford, although, I believe, all have been renamed.

[joko]

check out the bbc website for full details regarding the show balderdah and piffle and that word

[jimeveleigh]

There is a Grope C*** Road or Lane in just about any major City, but I don't think thats where the word origionates from.