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In Latin, the middle finger was the digitus impudicus, meaning the "shameless, indecent or offensive finger". [5] In the 1st century AD, Persius had superstitious female relatives concoct a charm with the "infamous finger" ( digitus infamis ) and "purifying spit" [ 27 ] [ 28 ] while in the Satyricon , an old woman uses dust, spit and her middle finger to mark the forehead before casting a ...
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The 'middle finger salute' is derived from the defiant gestures of English archers whose fingers had been severed by the French at the Battle of Agincourt.
The basic premise that the origins of the one-finger gesture and its association with the profane word fuck were an outgrowth of the 1415 battle between French and English forces at Agincourt is simple enough to debunk. The insulting gesture of extending ones middle finger (referred to as digitus impudicus in Latin) originated long before the Battl...
The military aspects of this account are similarly specious. Despite the lack of motion pictures and television way back in the 15th century, the details of medieval battles such as the one at Agincourt in 1415 did not go unrecorded. Battles were observed and chronicled by heralds who were present at the scene and recorded what they saw, judged who...
Bowman were not valuable prisoners, though: they stood outside the chivalric system and were considered the social inferiors of men-at-arms. There was no monetary reward to be obtained by capturing them, nor was there any glory to be won by defeating them in battle. As John Keegan wrote in his history of warfare To meet a similarly equipped opponen...
Moreover, if archers could be ransomed, then cutting off their middle fingers would be a senseless move. Your opponent is not going to pay you (or pay you much) for the return of mutilated soldiers, so now what do you do with them? Take on the burden and expense of caring for them? Kill them outright and violate the medieval moral code of civilized...
And even if killing prisoners of war did not violate the moral code of the times, what would be the purpose of taking archers captive, cutting off their fingers, and then executing them? Why not simply kill them outright in the first place? Do you return these prisoners to your opponents in exchange for nothing, thereby providing them with trained ...
The Middle Finger: A Brief History Last night, Anthony Weiner ended his disastrous run for mayor with a crude gesture at a reporter. The middle finger has a surprisingly complex history.
Feb 6, 2012 · The middle finger's offensive meaning seems to have overtaken cultural, linguistic and national boundaries and can now be seen at protests, on football pitches, and at rock concerts across the world.
The middle finger, long finger, second finger, [1][2] third finger, [3] toll finger or tall man is the third digit of the human hand, located between the index finger and the ring finger. It is typically the longest digit. In anatomy, it is also called the third finger, digitus medius, digitus tertius or digitus III.
Sep 23, 2024 · The outstretched middle finger is not known everywhere in the world, or at least it wasn't in the past, writes Krüger. The Germanic tribes may have adopted the gesture as early as antiquity if ...
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History » Podcast Episodes » #96: The Origin of the Middle Finger Insult. Loading... We’ve all done it in moments of anger. But why do we use our middle finger to express anger? And why do we call it “the bird.”. Suggestions range from The Battle of Agincourt in 1415 to Ancient Rome. We find out the history everyone’s favorite one ...
