Friday 4 September 2009

Word: Bugger

Another nice one...

Origin: In the good old days, the routine charge against heretics was that of sofomy. Cathars and Templars were accused of this, as were the Bogomils. Now, the Bogomils originally came from Bulgaria, and the French referred to them as bougres (Bulgars). And from this, the English got bugger. So, in fact, bugger actually means heretical Bulgarian sodomite, or something to that effect.

Source: Barret, David V., A Brief History of Secret Societies, Robinson edn, 2007

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