Swearing, or PROFANE SWEARING, the habit of using the name or attributes of God in a light and familiar manner by way of asseveration or emphasis. It was specially condemned by the Mosaic law, was long punished by severe penalties, and is still an actionable offence in England. By oaths are loosely understood also many terms and phrases of gross and obscene character. There is a legitimate use for solemn cursing; but weak men of limited vocabulary, under the pressure of excitement, seek for artificial strength or verification by employing irrelevant words that carry with them ideas of gravity or strength. Seafaring men and persons in command generally often use such expressions to add weight to their words, and some apology may be found for them in the fact that the persons with whom they have usually to deal have been so accustomed to their use as not to be readily inclined to obedience without them. Again, other and more imaginative men from the days of Rabelais until now garnish their talk with oaths as a mere exercise of verbal ingenuity, or by way of set-off to their conversation.—'How now?' said Ponocrates; 'you swear, Friar John.' 'It is only,' said the monk, 'but to grace and adorn my speech; they are colours of a Ciceronian rhetoric.'
To call God to witness is a thing natural enough on occasions of grave asseveration, as in giving witness in courts of law and the like, and it has been from the beginning a custom to take oaths on things sacred or august, as the head of the emperor, the beard of the Prophet, the sword blade or hilt, and the gospels. Thomas Becket denounced John the Marshal of England for swearing on the troparium, a collection of versicles and sequences used in the service of the mass. We find oaths frequent enough among the Greeks and
Romans : Pythagoras is said to have sworn by the number four ; Zeno, by the caper ; Socrates used mild oaths, as 'By the dog,' and Aristophanes tells of a time when no men swore by the gods, but all by birds. The Romans used 'Mehercule,' 'Medius Fidius,' 'Edepol,' 'Ecastor,' and 'Mecastor' (properly a woman's oath), &c. Brantôme tells us Louis XI. said 'Par la Pâque Dieu ;' the oath of Francis I. was characteristic—'Foi de gentil-homme.' 'Ventre Saint-Gris,' again, was one of the Gascon oaths of Henry IV. of France, which he alternated with another favourite, 'Jarnidien.' Many of the modern French oaths, as 'Parbleu' (par Dieu), 'Corbleu' (corps de Dieu), 'Ventrebleu,' and 'Sacrebleu,' are illustrations of a process of softening an oath by a deliberate disguise, like the old-fashioned 'Gad' and 'Egad,' the north country 'Dod' and 'Seush' (God's curse), and the older English 'Slight' (God's light), 'Od's fish'—the usual oath of Charles II., 'Zounds' (God's wounds), 'Od's bodikins,' and the American 'Darn.' Similarly in Italy, between the severe laws against profanity and blasphemy and the necessity of confession, forms like 'Per Dio' became in early times disguised as 'Per Dinci.' Indeed the Italians, especially in Tuscany, are extraordinarily rich in oaths, many strange and grotesque forms being in use, and the meanings of common forms being carefully differentiated. Mr Story tells us that 'Dio mio' is proper as an expression of sudden surprise, 'Madonna mia' of pity and sorrow, 'Per Christo' of hatred and revenge. Nothing on the Continent strikes an English ear more strangely than the familiar use of 'Dien' in France and of such phrases as 'Herr Je' in Germany, and English reticence refuses to accept the over-subtle apology even of a Cardinal Newman (Lect. on Certain Diffic. ix.), that this variety and fertility in adjurations and invocations is merely because a Catholic populace has a greater insight into the unseen world than a Protestant. 'The Catholic's very jesting, and his very oaths, have been overruled,' says he, 'to create in him a habit of faith, girding round and protecting the supernatural principle.' But it is proper to explain that what James Howell calls 'this infandous custom of swearing' is to Continentals specially an English characteristic. Indeed Howell himself, after enumerating the performances of the German, the Italian, the Frenchman, the Spaniard, the Welshman, the Irishman, and the Scot, admits that 'for variety of oaths the English Roarers put down all.' Byron describes how Don Juan on his first arrival in England is rudely awakened from the innocent belief that 'their shibboleth "God damn"' is a usual salutation. Beaumarchais (Le Mariage de Figaro, iii. 5) says, 'Avec Goddam en Angleterre on ne manque de rien nulle part . . . les Anglais à la vérité ajoutent par-ci par-là quelques autres mots en conversant ; mais il est bien aisé de voir que Goddam est le fond de la langue.' We hear this phrase as a synonym for Englishman even from the pure lips of Joan of Arc, and we certainly find the oath in the other Elizabethan dramatists, and in Shakespeare, but not in anything like its modern pre-eminence of importance. Still we find oaths enough of all shades of profanity in early English literature, and corresponding denunciations in the writings of preachers like Jeremy Taylor and Thomas Fuller, down to the days of that genial but true moralist, the Spectator. A few of the more common old English oaths—all in Shakespeare—were 'Bodikins,' 'By Cock and Pie' (God and the Romish service-book), 'Cock's passion,' 'By 'r Lady,' 'Marry' (the Virgin Mary), 'By my halidom' (holiness), 'Od's me,' 'Sblood,' 'Gramerey,' 'By the rood' (the Cross), 'Shrew me.' Sir Thopas in the Canterbury Tales uses 'By ale and bread,' the dainty Madame Eglantine's greatest oath is only 'By St Eloy.' 'By Jove' and 'By George' are still heard ; 'the dickens' (devil) already occurs in the Merry Wives ; 'the deuce' is at least of the 17th century, although hardly Middle English, pace Professor Skeat ; 'By the living Jingo' has been boldly described as Basque, and was rendered classic by the Vicar of Wakefield ; Etheredge and Dryden write 'bloody drunk ;' Swift, 'bloody cold' and 'bloody sick'—early examples of one of the most odious of modern vulgarisms ; the Duke of Wellington's 'twopenny damn' (of which there is an attempted innocent explanation) almost died with him ; Queen Elizabeth, James I., Lord Thurlow, Picton, and Lord Melbourne, all notorious swearers, were catholic in their choice of oaths. The prophecy of Bob Acres (Rivals, ii. 1), that 'damns have had their day,' has not yet entirely come true, although the reformation of manners has long since driven swearing from the quarter-deck, and a Squire Western is now more than a phenomenon. Swift's Swearer's Bank (Scott's Swift, vol. vii.) is a characteristic satire on the profanity of his day. It is computed by geographers, he begins, that there are two millions in this kingdom [Ireland], of which number there may be said to be a million of swearing souls. It is thought that there may be 5000 gentlemen, each with one oath a day at a shilling each, yielding an annual revenue of £91,250. All classes of citizens contribute to this revenue, the farmers, the commonality, the hundred pretty fellows in Dublin alone at fifty oaths a head daily, the oaths of a little Connaught fair themselves computed at 3000. Militia under arms are to be exempted, nor is any advantage to be taken of any man's swearing in the Four Courts, provided he is at hearing in the exchequer or has just paid an attorney's bill. As for its medicinal use to help the lungs to throw off any distilling humour, on certificate of a course of swearing granted by any physician a permit may be issued to the patient, but all other licenses, compositions, or indulgences whatever are prohibited.
The church ever denounced profane swearing, but was powerless to check the practice. St Chrysostom spent twenty homilies upon it, and St Augustine's judgment is summed up with unnecessary severity in the solemn passage, 'Non minus peccant qui blasphemant Christum regnantem in cœlis quam qui crucifixerunt ambulantem in terris.' For much of our popular swearing is little more than the mere habit of vocabulary, a sin only from the lips outward, as Bishop Lightfoot said of the habitual profanity of the colliers of his diocese. Again, where swearing is a professional custom it is scarce possible to exist without conforming, and after all words have in themselves no absolute but a relative meaning. 'Our armies swore terribly in Flanders' in my Uncle Toby's time, nor was the practice extinct till long after the great French wars. And have we not still our familiar proverb 'to swear like a trooper.' But swearing has disappeared from the parade-ground, though it still lingers in the barrack-room. 'To swear like a bargee,' however, is a proverb still justifiable by the facts—an atmosphere of oaths continues to hang heavy over our canals and rivers. We are told that Robert Burton at last could only be made to laugh by going down to the Bridgefoot in Oxford and hearing the barge-men scold and storm and swear.
The old forms of excommunication in ecclesiastical use supplied forms enough, and the specimen of the powers of Ernulphus given in Tristram Shandy certainly displays 'an orientality we cannot rise up to, a copiousness of invention, a possession of all the excellencies of a swearer which make it impossible to swear out of it.' The advantage of a theological vocabulary is seen further in Scott's story of the swearing-bout between a skipper and a broken-down minister, where the latter swore his antagonist dumb with a copiousness and variety he could not equal. In England the growth of Puritanism was marked by a series of attempts to stamp out swearing. In 1601 a measure for this end was introduced into the House of Commons, and one was carried in 1623. 'Not a man swears but pays his twelve pence,' says Cromwell proudly of his Ironsides. As early as 1606 swearing in plays had been forbidden, and even Ben Jonson himself narrowly escaped the £10 penalty. An act of 1645 in Scotland details the penalties to be inflicted, even on ministers of religion—it will be remembered that Barham recommends these not to go beyond 'zooks.' Shirley's play, The Young Admiral (1633), is especially noted as 'free from oaths, profaneness, and obscenity.' When Davenant's Wits next year was presented to Sir Henry Herbert for license, the latter crossed out many expressions. Davenant appealed to the king, who directed the Master of the Revels to allow such words as 'Faith,' 'Death,' and 'Slight.' Sir Henry made the following entry in his office-book: 'The king is pleased to take "Faith," "Death," and "Slight" for asseverations and no oaths, to which I do humbly submit as my master's judgment; but under favour conceive them to be oaths, and enter them here to declare my opinion and submission.' St Paul's Cathedral is supposed to have been built without an oath, the regulations of Sir Christopher Wren being so stringent, and this may be allowed to remain its most remarkable distinction.
Profane swearing, according to the law of England, is an offence for which the party may be convicted under an act of George II. by a justice of the peace according to a scale of penalties. A day labourer, common soldier, sailor, or seaman forfeits 1s. per oath; every other person under the degree of a gentleman, 2s.; and every person above the degree of a gentleman, 5s.; for a second offence, double these sums; for a third, treble, &c. If the cursing take place in presence of a justice of the peace, the latter may convict the swearer then and there, without further process or evidence; and in all cases a constable may apprehend a profane swearer, and carry him before a justice. On one occasion a man swore a volley of oaths, twenty times repeating the oath, and the justices fined him 2s. for each repetition, making in all £2, and this was held a proper conviction. It seems that this act does not apply to women; but there are provisions of a more general character in several modern police acts which impose a penalty for using profane or obscene language in public places. The justices of the peace in Scotland have a similar jurisdiction, to convict of profane swearing, and fine according to the rank of the party.
See articles on BLASPHEMY and OATH; also Julian Sharman, A Cursory History of Swearing (1884).