Well, this is frustrating, I started, a possibly problematic, etymological discussion of a word considered VERY bad but one that has fascinating origins. I started reading up on said word and ran across the points I wanted to make... came back here and can't find the original thread, so, here goes.

A-La Python, Monty: this will offend the easily offended. If you are one of those, don't read on. You have been warned.

The problem is not that I like stirring pots, I do, it's that I LOVE looking into the history of things and especially words... here goes:

The word 'cunt' is considered by us to be a very bad word. Turns out it has a long and varied history and several have taken on the task of trying to figure out just where it came from and what it means.

My first link of the day focuses on the European stand point and pretty much ignores the possibility that the word came from any other origins save German, Dutch, Norse, etc:

[huffingtonpost.com]

As far as the analysis goes, I think it is pretty tight (no, NO pun). It does a good job of explaining how the word gets from one form to another within the language and possible connotations of each.

That said, the connotations are pretty bland (which, honestly, is what I expected as I knew the history of the word was actually not at all salty until recent history... which is a few hundred years mind). References to house, hill (odd one that) and the like. Many you'd come to expect when describing female genitalia. Yes, you have gathered from my language that I am not very excited by the words of Anatoly Liberman at Huff. Not that he's wrong, per se, but ignoring anything outside of eurocentric considerations and languages, is, I think a fault of logic here. This word goes much farther back... in fact, it's a bit like saying women didn't exist until Europe did and, I like to think they have been around, and indeed a very important (if quashed) part of our history since, well, the beginning. In fact, a recent study showed that proto-woman (the first human female) predates the proto-male (first human... yah, I think you got it) by several thousand (if not tens of thousands... been a while) of years. Odd that but I trust the scientists in question... and I DIGRESS!

According to another analysis which goes farther back in time and language, one of the first places we find the word, the world over, is in reference to a Hindu nature goddess (which was what I was remembering reading a long while back) and it was anything but a condemnation. In fact, it was from a time when women were equal, and considered no more, nor less, powerful, or important, then men. The term, according to the read, referred to the whole of the female genitalia, and without reference to the male genitalia.

Example: I ran across a word while reading about weapons, specifically swords, and the reference in question called a sheath for a sword a vagina. That's right, vagina is a sheath and a sheath is for putting something in to. Thus THAT word denigrates a woman's genitalia saying, in a backhand way, that it only serves one function. It refers nothing to any other function nor anything about form, save that one function referenced. Cunt, on the other hand, refers to the whole of the genitalia and encompasses, pretty much all function.

Here is a quote from the read I will link below it (in which one of the authors was rather embarrassed to broach the subject, as I am really, both because the word is considered THAT bad and because he didn't want to feel as if he were mansplaining, and nor do I but... again, I love to talk about this sort of subject, not just saucy words but the history of same... I was, for example, and again, rather surprised when I ran across an old text referring to a swords sheath as a vagina):

"But when he (Matt Fidler of the podcast "Very Bad Words) dared to talk about it, he discovered that female friends were already embracing the positive power of cunt. Writer Katrin Redfern, who co-hosted the c-word episode with him, had already thought a lot about this topic, for example. Redfern read Inga Muscio’s 1998 book Cunt: A Declaration of Independence and it changed her life. She came to understand that the word is only an insult if you think strong women with sexual desire are a bad thing."

From:

[qz.com]

I'd say who wrote it but I don't know how to type their name and they are right at the top of the post, under the pretty picture (minds out of the gutter, it's just a pretty gal with a nice orchid(I think)).

I take a number of things from this quote. First is something I have felt a long time: words have the power you give them. They are bad if you think they are bad, and not so much otherwise.

Second (or also) KNOW the history before you take umbrage. If you look up the word... I don't even want to type it for knowing it's history... faggot, you will find that it's a bundle of sticks. Nothing bad eh? Well, it's a bundle of sticks intended to help light a fire... why is this associated with being gay and male? Because when it was en vogue to burn witches they started the fires with bundles of sticks, faggots, tied around gay men... so, a witch burning was much worse (if that's possible). Between the two (and certainly this is possible because I am male, even if I am hetero), I think that burning someone at the stake is far worse than the examples given for cunt in these texts. I DIGRESS again.

I also take that the word had positive meaning, but was turned around (even the authors can't say when or how). This turn about was due to society becoming less nomadic, where both men and women played key roles, AND more stable in relationships. Worse, men wanted to know that they were bringing up their own children, so, wanted control over their women... no, I don't think any of this is good. I can understand it, but I don't really agree with it. So, women were systematically dis-empowered during this time frame and the word took on new meaning.

I say do what people recently did with the word 'bitch.' Take it on, concentrate on the positive meanings and go with it... in fact, fling the original meaning in the face of the... ahem... person who used it on you and point out that is says more about their failings and fears than it does about you. That's my take.

NOW, having said all of that. I do NOT say we should just run around saying 'cunt' at every possible opportunity. Society has still decided it's a VERY bad word and thus there will likely be consequences for men (certainly) and women (though maybe less so) for using it. That said, knowing more about this word (and others) can raise some interesting talking points in conversations and note, you don't really need to repeat the word a lot to talk about it (how many times did I use said word here?).

I hope I didn't offend, I hope y'all enjoy my traipse into a place I probably shouldn't and mostly, I hope this doesn't come across as mansplaining. It's intended only as a discussion of something I am interested in: words and history.