William Shakespeare was the ultimate trash-talker of his era, with treasured bon mots such as “Thou crusty botch of nature!” But the Bard may have taken a cue from some of his predecessors, as evidenced by the catalog of insults on the Medieval Studies web site.
OLD NORSE:
“Thú ert brúr Svínfellsáss, em sagt er, hverja ir níunda nótt ok geri hann thik at konu!"
“You are the bride of the Svïnafell troll, as people say, and every ninth night he treats you like a woman!”
Skarpheinn to Flosi in Njal's Saga, ch. 123
MIDDLE ENGLISH:
Lady Holy Church to Piers Plowman: "Thow dolted daffe!” quod she, “dulle are thi wittes.”
“You doltish dunce!” she said, “dull are your wits.”
Piers Plowman B.1.140
MEDIEVAL LATIN:
"Tu sochors! Tu scibalum hedi! Tu scibalum ouis! Tu scibalum equi! Tu fi mus bouis! Tu stercus porci! Tu hominis stercus! Tu canis scibalum! Tu uulpis scibalum! Tu muricipis scibalum! Tu galline stercus! Tu asini scibalum! Tu uulpicule omnium uulpiculorum! Tu uulpis cauda! Tu uulpis barba! Tu nebris uulpiculi! Tu uechors et semichors! Tu scurra!"
"You idiot! You goat dung! Sheep dung! Horse dung! You cow dung! You pig filth! You human dung! You dog dung! Fox dung! Cat dung! Chicken droppings! You donkey dung! You fox cub of all fox cubs! You fox tail! You fox beard! You skin of a fox cub! You idiot and halfwit! You buffoon!"
The Colloquy of Ælfric Bata (England, c. 1000)
Read about a UO alum's provocative book, plus his further explorations into cognition.
Read the Q&A from our lively humanities roundtable and/or listen to the entire discussion.
Watch Ian McNeely's talk at Google, Inc. and read a chapter from his book, Reinventing Knowledge.
Check out the dazzling "math windows" in Deady Hall.