The F word goes back to 1100
Unlike slang, the old standbys stick around for centuries.
Something You Should Know · The Surprising Power of Swearing & How to Build Confidence FastThe F word "goes back to 1100" and can be traced through old dictionaries into the writings of Chaucer, according to Timothy Jay, a retired Massachusetts psychology professor who has studied swearing for years. Jay says the other old four-letter Anglo-Saxon words have been around a long time, too.
That age fits his history of language, Jay says. People have spoken for about 100,000 years but have read for only 10,000, so swearing predates writing and can be older than any written record. Bans on certain language in the Bible and the Quran show taboos already thousands of years old.
New insults rarely break in. To explain why old swear words survive while slang fades, Jay uses his own metaphor: swearing is a garden of curses, where old, reliable plants hold on and keep out exotic intruders.
Questions people ask
Why are so many English swear words short, Anglo-Saxon words?
After the Norman Conquest in 1066, French became the language of the court and government, while ordinary English speakers kept farming, eating, and bodily words from Old English. The plain, short Germanic words for sex and bodily functions stayed low status, and that class split helped turn them into taboo words.
If old swear words never die, why do some insults lose their shock?
Overuse and cultural change can drain a word. Religious oaths like hell and damn were once banned from radio and film, but lost force as organized religion lost influence.