The article referred to, before everyone went off on a political point-scoring tangent, mentions the Norwegians and the Danes in their use of the ‘C’-word, but it goes back much farther, it’s derived from the Latin ‘cunus’, meaning wedge-shaped, the shape of the pubis, hence the term cuneiform, the writing system which used reeds pressed into clay tablets, and it’s suggested that the River Kennet, which starts near Silbury Hill, (up until that point, it’s called the Winterbourne), gets its name from Old English ‘Cunnut’ or ‘Kunnut’, because of the nearby Swallowhead Spring which supplies water to the Winterbourne, and was likely part of fertility and goddess worship, and the connection with female reproductive organs.
Seeing as how the Victorians had a fit of the vapours over the word ‘piddle’ in the river and associated place-names in Dorset, changing it to River Puddle, and Affpuddle, although Piddlehinton and Piddletrenthide stayed, along with some others, one can imagine River C*** being very quickly altered!
Just part of my local history that fascinates me.
Ok, lesson over, back to arguing among yourselves. 😀