Insults, oaths, and curses in the Middle Ages
From Medievalists.net:
"By God’s Bones: Medieval Swear Words"
What were bad words in the Middle Ages? Cursing or swearing in medieval England was really different from today’s world.
May, 2023
The post begins:
Some historians have looked into the topic, such as Melissa Mohr, the author of Holy Sh*t: A Brief History of Swearing. In her chapter on medieval England, Mohr explains that people back then did not have much of an issue with describing bodily functions in ways that we might find less appropriate. Going into a city you might find a street called ‘Shitwell Way’ or ‘Pissing Alley’. Open a medieval textbook to teach reading to children and you might find the words arse, shit or fart. If you saw ants crawling around you would most likely call them ‘pisse-mires’.
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