I always start my word history searches in the OED (Oxford English Dictionary). I bought myself a yearly subscription for my birthday, and I am in LOVE with it. In addition to defining the word, the OED lists the first time the word was seen in print, and several additional examples of it in print, for each and every different definition of the word. Then I usually google the sources of those print examples to read the original source material myself. If I find anything interesting, I make a note and then often use it in a Jeo-party clue.
So yesterday, I searched the OED for words that can also mean "the penis." I was mostly interested in learning the other definitions of the word (and if I found at least 4 good ones, then I could use it for a homonym round) but I was also interested in learning about the history of the first time these often very common words started being used to mean "the penis" instead of its traditional definition.
The word that led me to Kildare was "cock." Originally, it simply meant a male domestic chicken. The word probably originated as an imitation of the sound the rooster makes ("cock-a-doodle-doo"), a nice bit of onomatopoeia, and as evidence, the OED points to several examples of a similar sounding word in many different languages meaning male chicken: Dutch - kocke, German - kock, Old Icelandic - kokkr, Swedish - kock, Old Danish - kok, French - coq, Slavonic -kokotŭ, Finnish - kukko, and even Sanskrit - kukkuṭa.
As is typical, it is very easy to see the jump from the traditional definition to its new slang meaning, in this instance from male domestic chicken to the penis. Male domestic chickens, aka roosters (aka cocks 😁) are brutally feisty with their female partners. I know this because we raise chickens, very specifically we raise female chickens (hens) and NOT cocks because cocks are little penises (hahahaha the word play there is SO delightful. My husband and I use the term "little penis" to mean "little jerk", often to talk about our cats when they are being little jerks aka little penises). Anyways, roosters are jerks. And if they are not given enough females to have sex with, they will oversex the females they do have, which often results in injury or death. Roosters are also super mean (mostly because they are ironically so overprotective of their sexual partners), and they are super loud with all their cock-a-doodle-dooing at literally all times of day and night, so we have actively avoided having roosters (as I mentioned in a previous post, one of our baby chicks did end up being a rooster- we are only given a 90% guarantee of getting a female-- and we promptly put him up for adoption. The best part was that we had named the chick Venus, which so perfectly rhymed with penis, thus his delightful new name, Venus the Penis). So cock 🠊 penis is a super easy lexicographic jump to make. The OED explains it much more eloquently than I: "The association of the cockerel with sexual voracity, and hence with the male genitals, dates back to antiquity; further reinforced by a perceived similarity with the erectile properties of a cock's comb when the bird is sexually aroused."
The OED lists The Kildare Poems circa 1335 as the first time "cock" was used to mean "penis" in print. The verse quoted in the OED is: "Y ne mai no more of loue done, Mi pilkoc pisseþ on mi schone." I immediately had to google that line to figure out the modern English translation because Middle English (especially of the Irish English variety) always looks like gibberish to me. What I discovered made me literally laugh out loud. The most common English translation is: "I am no longer able to make love, my cock pisses on my shoe." OMG! hahahahaha. (Apparently the OED counts the compound word "pilkoc" or "pillcock" as the earliest recorded usage of "cock" meaning penis.)
This delighted me so much that I had to find the rest of the poem and read it. And boy I was NOT disappointed. There are 16 poems in the collection called "The Kildare Poems" or "The Kildare Lyrics." Kildare refers to the town of Kildare in Ireland where the poems were probably written, and also to the name of the author of at least one of the poems, who calls himself "Michael of Kildare." The original manuscript was a small parchment book, measuring only about 6 inches by 4 inches, and may have been produced as "a travelling preacher’s 'pocket-book'" by a group of Franciscan friars. The subjects of the poems range from religious symbolism to hilarious satire. According to Wikipedia, these poems "constitute the first and most important linguistic document of the early development of Irish English in the centuries after the Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland." That sounds like a pretty big deal. I am delighted I discovered them!
The line above, featuring "cock", comes from the 14th poem in the series, called "Elde", a poem about the problems of "old age". Here is a link to the original text in Anglo-Irish Middle English, and here is the source (and another) I used for translation. Some of my favorites lines from "Elde":
Old age makes me impotent and grow completely grey.
When old age intends to cut me down, there is no denying it.
Old age will not bear news of the joys of May.
When old age wishes to conquer me, my well-being is gone.
Old age will grow cold and dry up like the clod of clay,
with old age I must submit and hasten to my appointed day.
I am greatly annoyed that my saliva dries up and my nose drips.
Old age twists my shape so that my shoulders grow sharp, and youth has forsaken me.
I cannot grope beneath a woman's skirts any more, although would still desire to do so.
Old age has destroyed me. I believe that he who trusts in youth is deceived.
In this entire fashion old age renders me useless. Thus he pulls out my teeth and draws them in misery.
I am no longer able to make love, my cock pisses on my shoes, every rascal invokes a curse upon me.
My head is grey and completely disfigured, coloured like a grey mare, my body grows short; when I look upon my shins, entirely wasted away, my eyes grow dim. My friends grow few in number.
Now I babble, I pant, I pout, I become shrivelled.
I become wrinkled, I become feeble, my mind wanders, I wander, I waste away, I crouch in two, I become crippled, I cough. In this way he wishes to subdue me.
I complain, I groan, I snarl, I grumble, I sneeze, I nod off, I snivel, I tremble. Old age desires all this [for me].
I go blind, I have bleary eyes, I snore in bed - such utterance is sent to me!
I am definitely beginning to empathize with the author of this poem. Granted I am only 37, I am constantly reminded that I am not in my 20s anymore; I already feel the effects of old age upon me (grey hairs, nose dripping, worsening eye sight, body creaking, snoring, etc). Thankfully I do not possess a cock that will eventually piss on my shoe. But I'll make sure to warn my husband about that. 😂
With delight,
♥Jamie
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