View source for Fart (word)

{{Short description|English profanity}}
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'''Fart''' is a word in the [[English language]] most commonly used in reference to [[flatulence]] that can be used as a [[noun]] or a [[verb]].<ref name = "vxstmm">{{cite web|url=http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/fart |title=Dictionary.com |publisher=Dictionary.reference.com |access-date=2010-11-12}}</ref> The immediate roots are in the Middle English words ''ferten'', ''feortan'' and ''farten'', kin of the Old High German word ''ferzan''.  Cognates are found in [[Old Norse]], Slavic and also Greek and Sanskrit. The word ''fart'' has been incorporated into the [[colloquialism|colloquial]] and [[jargon|technical speech]] of a number of occupations, including computing. It is often considered unsuitable in formal situations as it may be considered vulgar or offensive.

==Etymology==
The English word ''fart'' is one of the oldest words in the English lexicon.  Its [[Proto-Indo-European language|Indo-European]] origins are confirmed by the many [[cognate]] words in some other [[Indo-European languages]]:  It is cognate with [[Greek language|Greek]] verb πέρδομαι (perdomai),<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aalphabetic+letter%3D*p%3Aentry+group%3D93%3Aentry%3Dpe%2Frdomai H.G.Liddell, R. Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon.]</ref> as well as the [[Latin obscenity#Pēdere|Latin]] ''pēdĕre'', [[Sanskrit]] ''pardate'', [[Askunu language|Ashkun]] ''pidiṅ'',<ref>{{cite web |last=Strand |first=Richard |title=Saňu-vi:ri Lexicon|url=https://nuristan.info/lngFrameL.html}}</ref> [[Avestan language|Avestan]] {{lang|ae|pərəδaiti}}, [[Italian language|Italian]] {{lang|it|fare un peto}}, [[French language|French]] "péter", [[Russian language|Russian]] пердеть (perdet') and [[Polish language|Polish]] "{{lang|pl|pierd}}" << [[PIE]] *{{lang|pl|perd}} [break wind loudly] or *{{lang|pl|pezd}} [the same, softly], all of which mean the same thing.  Like most Indo-European roots in the [[Germanic languages]], it was altered under [[Grimm's law]], so that Indo-European ''/p/'' > ''/f/'', and ''/d/'' > ''/t/'', as the [[German language|German]] cognate ''furzen'' also manifests.<ref>[[The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language]] (4th edition, 2000)</ref><ref>''Dictionnaire Hachette de la Langue Française'', (Hachette, 1995) {{ISBN|0-317-45629-6}}</ref><ref>T. G. Tucker, ''Etymological Dictionary of Latin'', (Halle, 1931, repr. Ares Publishers, 1985) {{ISBN|0-89005-172-0}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Liberman |first=Anatoly |title=Puzzling heritage: The verb 'fart' |url=http://blog.oup.com/2012/07/word-origin-fart-fist-etymology/ |date=July 25, 2012 |publisher=OUPBlog |access-date=July 25, 2012}}</ref>

{{anchor|old fart}}

==Vulgarity and offensiveness==
[[File:The Papal Belvedere.jpg|thumb|right|From a series of woodcuts (1545) usually referred to as the ''Papstspotbilder'' or ''Papstspottbilder'' in German or ''Depictions of the Papacy'' in English,<ref name=Oberman>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_leG5ztYoZwC&pg=PA61|title=The Impact of the Reformation: Essays|first=Heiko Augustinus|last=Oberman|date=1 January 1994|publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing|isbn=9780802807328 |via=Google Books}}</ref> by [[Lucas Cranach the Elder|Lucas Cranach]], commissioned by [[Martin Luther]].<ref name=Edwards-1>[https://books.google.com/books?id=kYbupalP98kC&pg=PA4 ''Luther's Last Battles: Politics And Polemics 1531-46'' By Mark U. Edwards, Jr.] Fortress Press, 2004. {{ISBN|978-0-8006-3735-4}}</ref> Title: Kissing the Pope's Feet.<ref>In Latin, the title reads "Hic oscula pedibus papae figuntur"</ref> German peasants respond to a papal bull of [[Pope Paul III]]. Caption reads: "Don't frighten us Pope, with your ban, and don't be such a furious man. Otherwise we shall turn around and show you our rears."<ref>"Nicht Bapst: nicht schreck uns mit deim ban, Und sey nicht so zorniger man. Wir thun sonst ein gegen wehre, Und zeigen dirs Bel vedere"</ref><ref name=Edwards-2>[https://books.google.com/books?id=kYbupalP98kC&pg=PA198 Mark U. Edwards, Jr., ''Luther's Last Battles: Politics And Polemics 1531-46'' (2004), p. 199]</ref>]]
In certain circles the word is considered merely a common [[profanity]] with an often [[humor]]ous [[connotation]]. For example, a person may be referred to as a 'fart', or an 'old fart', not necessarily depending on the person's age.  This may convey the sense that a person is boring or unduly fussy and be intended as an insult, mainly when used in the second or third person.  For example, '"he's a boring old fart!"  However the word may be used as a colloquial term of [[endearment]] or in an attempt at humorous self-deprecation (e.g., in such phrases as "I know I'm just an old fart" or "you do like to fart about!").  'Fart' is often only used as a term of endearment when the subject is personally well known to the user.

In both cases though, it tends to refer to personal habits or traits that the user considers to be a negative feature of the subject, even when it is a self-reference.  For example, when concerned that a person is being overly methodical they might say 'I know I'm being an old fart', potentially to forestall negative thoughts and opinions in others. When used in an attempt to be offensive, the word is still considered vulgar, but it remains a mild example of such an insult. This usage dates back to the Medieval period, where the phrase 'not worth a fart' would be applied to an item held to be worthless.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hughes |first=Geoffrey |title=A History of English Words |year=2000 |publisher=Blackwell Publishing |isbn=0-631-18855-X |page=130}}</ref>

===Historical examples===
[[File:Newton Bull farts G3.jpg|thumb|right|220px|[[John Bull]] emits an explosive bout of flatulence at a poster of [[George III]] as an outraged [[William Pitt the Younger]] admonishes him. [[Richard Newton (caricaturist)|Newton]]'s etching was probably a comment on Pitt's threat (realized the following month) to suspend [[habeas corpus]].]]
The word ''fart'' in [[Middle English]] occurs in "[[Sumer Is Icumen In]]", where one sign of summer is "bucke uerteþ" (the [[deer|buck]] farts). It appears in several of [[Geoffrey Chaucer]]'s ''[[Canterbury Tales]]''. In "[[The Miller's Tale]]", Absolon has already been tricked into kissing Alison's buttocks when he is expecting to kiss her face. Her boyfriend Nicholas hangs his [[buttocks]] out of a window, hoping to trick Absolon into kissing his buttocks in turn and then farts in the face of his rival. In "[[The Summoner's Tale]]", the friars in the story are to receive the smell of a fart through a twelve-spoked wheel.

In the early modern period, the word ''fart'' was not considered especially vulgar; it even surfaced in literary works. For example, [[Samuel Johnson]]'s ''[[A Dictionary of the English Language]]'', published in 1755, included the word.  Johnson defined it {{vague|date=August 2016}} with two poems, one by [[Jonathan Swift]], the other by [[John Suckling (poet)|Sir John Suckling]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Evans |first=Ron |title=Coming Home: Saskatchewan Remembered |year=2002 |publisher=Dundurn Press Ltd |isbn=1-55002-379-9 |page=95}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.davyking.com/fart.htm |title=An ill wind. Some fascinating facts about farting |publisher=Davyking.com |date=c. 1985 |access-date=2010-11-12 |archive-date=2013-05-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130527145100/http://www.davyking.com/fart.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Benjamin Franklin prepared [[Fart Proudly|an essay on the topic]] for the Royal Academy of Brussels in 1781 urging scientific study. In 1607, a group of [[Members of Parliament]] had written a ribald poem entitled ''The Parliament Fart'', as a symbolic protest against the conservatism of the [[House of Lords]] and the king, [[James I of England|James I]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Marotti |first=Arthur |title=Manuscript, print, and the English renaissance lyric |url=https://archive.org/details/manuscriptprinte00maro |url-access=registration |year=1995 |publisher=Cornell University Press |isbn=0-8014-8238-0 |page=[https://archive.org/details/manuscriptprinte00maro/page/113 113]}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Curtis |first=Polly |title=Ode to fart gets airing at last |date= 2005-06-23 |newspaper=Guardian |location=London |url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2005/jun/23/research.highereducation |access-date=2010-11-12}}</ref>

===Modern usage===
While not one of [[George Carlin]]'s original [[seven dirty words]], he noted in a later routine that the word ''fart'' ought to be added to "the list" of words that were not acceptable (for broadcast) in any context (which have non-offensive meanings), and described television as (then) a "fart-free zone".<ref>{{cite web |title=Verbatim transcript of George Carlin's "Filthy Words" prepared by the Federal Communications Commission |publisher=George Carlin |url=http://www.georgecarlin.com/dirty/dirty3.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070715090842/http://www.georgecarlin.com/dirty/dirty3.html |archive-date=2007-07-15 |access-date=2009-10-07}}</ref><ref name=seven>{{cite web|url=http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/conlaw/filthywords.html|title=Filthy Words|last=Carlin|first=George|publisher=[[University of Missouri-Kansas City]]|access-date=September 24, 2015}}</ref> [[Thomas Wolfe]] had the phrase "a fizzing and sulphuric fart" cut out of his 1929 work ''[[Look Homeward, Angel]]'' by his publisher. [[Ernest Hemingway]], who had the same publisher, accepted the principle that "fart" could be cut, on the grounds that  words should not be used purely to shock.<ref>{{cite book |last=Leff |first=Arthur |title=Hemingway and His Conspirators: Hollywood, Scribners, and the Making of American Celebrity Culture |url=https://archive.org/details/hemingwayhiscons00leff |url-access=registration |year=1997 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=0-8476-8545-4 |page=[https://archive.org/details/hemingwayhiscons00leff/page/105 105]}}</ref> The [[hippie]] movement in the 1970s saw a new definition develop, with the use of "fart" as a personal noun, to describe a "detestable person, or someone of small stature or limited mental capacity", gaining wider and more open usage as a result.<ref>{{cite book |last=McCleary |title=The Hippie Dictionary: A Cultural Encyclopedia of the 1960s and 1970s |year=2004 |publisher=Ten Speed Press |isbn=1-58008-547-4 |page=174}}</ref>

[[Rhyming slang]] developed the alternative form "raspberry tart", later shortened to "raspberry", and occasionally abbreviated further to "razz".  This was associated with the phrase "[[blowing a raspberry]]".<ref>{{cite book |last=Burridge |first=Kate |title=Weeds in the Garden of Words: Further Observations on the Tangled History of the English Language |url=https://archive.org/details/weedsingardenofw00burr |url-access=registration |year=2005 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=0-521-85313-3 |page=[https://archive.org/details/weedsingardenofw00burr/page/28 28]}}</ref> The word has become more prevalent, and now features in children's literature, such as the ''[[Walter the Farting Dog]]'' series of children's books, [[Robert Munsch]]'s ''Good Families Don't'' and ''[[The Gas We Pass]]'' by Shinta Cho.

==See also==
* [[Flatulence humor]]
* [[Le Pétomane]]
* [[Queef]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite book |last=Dawson |first=Jim |author-link=Jim Dawson |title=Did somebody step on a duck?: a natural history of the fart |publisher=Ten Speed Press |location=Berkeley, Calif |year=2010 |isbn=978-1-58008-133-7}}

==External links==
{{wiktionary|fart}}
*[http://www.sillyjokes.co.uk/fart-dictionary Dictionary of Fart Slang]

[[Category:Flatulence]]
[[Category:Digestive system]]
[[Category:English words]]