A mediaeval “ rap struggle ” write during the 16th - century pestilence curb one of the earliest do it U.S. of the F - parole .
know conjointly as theBannatyne Manuscript , the anthology was collected and drop a line in the last three calendar month of 1568 when Scottish merchandiser and pupil George Bannatyne was in lockdown in Edinburgh , Scotland , following an eruption of the pestis . Hidden away in his res publica hideaway , five century later Bannatyne would be celebrated for his “ anthology of poetry ” that today contain one of the oldest roll in the hay immortalize uses of the F - bomb .
A documentary film air byBBC Scotlandfeatures the F - word . In the docudrama , Dr Joanna Kopaczyk , a historical linguistics expert from Glasgow University , calls it “ some very juicy language,”reportsThe Scotsman .

The manuscript also contains the work from around 40 featured authors . Many of the musical composition are found in other manuscripts or earliest print reference , but the “ compendium as a whole is of unique importance , ” take note thearchives . In addition to the F - bomb , the manuscript also control some of the best work from the country ’s most crucial poets and , in some cases , remains the only platter of some poems , fables , and spiritual verses .
“ The Bannatyne Manuscript is a collection of some 400 poems compiled by the young Edinburgh merchandiser George Bannatyne in the last calendar month of 1568 when an outbreak of plague in Edinburgh oblige him to stay indoors . It is one of the most crucial survive sources of Older Scots poesy . The holograph remained in his descendants ’ self-will until they indue it to the Advocates Library – the National Library ’s predecessor – in 1772 , ” a spokesperson from theNational Library of Scotland(NLS ) enjoin IFLScience in an email .
Though it ’s not theoldestrecorded use of the F - word – that credit goes to a man by the name ofRoger Fuckebythenavelewho dropped the atomic number 9 - turkey in a 1310 courtroom , accord toThe Independent . Around two 100 later , the expletive makes its appearance in William Dunbar ’s epic poem , " TheFlytingsDunbar and Kennedie " – the medieval equivalent of a modern - day whack struggle .
“ It has long been bang that the ms contains some strong cuss that are now common in everyday language , although at the clock time , they were very much used in secure - natured gag . In picky , the ' Flyting of Dunbar and Kennedie , ' a great slanging match between the poets William Dunbar and Walter Kennedie , has been infamous for giving us [ one of ] the early known examples of these term in written cast , ” said the spokesperson .
Europe see several waves of the plague between the sixth and 17thcenturies , and Scotland was no dissimilar . Quarantine measures put in place resemble some of those seen today , include ego - isolation and 40 - day quarantine on goods import from places where the plague was known to hold on , consort to theNLS . Many Europeans believe that the pest was a penalty from God until the 19th C when it wasdiscoveredthat a bacteria bed asYersinia pestiscarried by rodent fleas was responsible .