Our self-contempt originates in this: in knowing we are ‘cunt’.

From Hindu Goddesses and Pagan rituals to Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, the c-word has had an ancient and powerful history that spans centuries and cultures. Why, then, is “cunt” still considered one of the most offensive words in the Western Hemisphere?

According to author and historian M. Geller, its first appearance in the Oxford English Dictionary in 1972 saw the word having been first sighted in London in 1230 as the street name “Gropecunte Lane,” a supposed Red Light District. Lexicographers also argue a connection to the Romance languages, with the word “vagina” rooted in the Latin cunnus, meaning “sword sheath.”

While “vagina” is used much more commonly in colloquial speech to refer to the female genitals than “cunt” is, its origins are defined by its service to male sexuality, making “cunt” — interestingly enough — the least historically misogynistic of the two. “Cunt” has also been used in Renaissance bawdy verse and in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, but it was not until Shakespeare’s era that its meaning began to fundamentally shift, during the dawn of Christian doctrine.

The precise etymology of the word “cunt” is a matter of debate and an admittedly — sometimes egregiously — convoluted subject that, aside from a couple of features here and there (such as the Independent’s interview with Germaine Greer from 2006) has attracted little investigation in contemporary mainstream media and pop culture.

“Cunt” in many ways epitomizes a global attitude towards female sexuality and a woman’s place within the phallocentric system. Author Kate Millett in her book Sexual Politics summarizes the still-potent degradation and shame of “being a Cunt”:

“Somehow every indignity the female suffers ultimately comes to be symbolized in a sexuality that is held to be her responsibility, her shame […] It can be summarized in one four-letter word. And the word is not fuck, it’s cunt. Our self-contempt originates in this: in knowing we are cunt.”

1. Kunti