cu(?)t

[Laurence Horn]

At 4:06 PM -0500 12/17/04, George Thompson wrote:
>Williams has 3 fairly long paragraphs.  #1 = whore, including
>references to Farmer & Haneley, under "cut" and the New Canting
>Dcitonary, 1725: "in some Norther Counties . . . signifies a
>Strumpet".  Also: Mercurius Fumigosus 16 (13-20 Sept. 1654: "where a
>cuckold has been 'riding of CUT . . . for quietness sake, and to please
>the good woman for the exaltation of his Brow-antlers'" & Maid Emlyn
>(c.1510) "describes how the young wife would 'mete with her leman
>swete, and cutte with hym'"
>#3 = genitals, cites Rogers, Horn Exalted (1661), ". . . the cut might
>be done up and closed completely. . . ."; Middleton's Chaste Maid (1611-
>13), ". . . can any woman have a greater cut?", an 1680
>manuscript: "makes a plea to be spared 'From telling of Tales when wee
>are at Rutt and Ramming Two Candles in one Ladys Cutt'"

ouch.

I was interested to see that by the Victorian era, "cut" had
completely disappeared from the English lexicon in this sense, if
Farmer & Henley (1890-1904) are to be trusted.  Under (what else?)
_monosyllable_ ["(venery) the female pudendum, CUNT (q.v.)"], they
list 7.5 pages of "English synonyms" from A.B.C. and Abraham's bosom
to yoni, you-know-what, and yum-yum, not to mention the 8 additional
pages of French synonyms, but no "cut" among them (although there is
a "cut-and-come-again").

Larry (no relation to Horn Exalted)