500-year-old manuscript contains one of earliest known uses of the “F-word” : The Bannatyne Manuscript is an anthology of some 400 medieval Scottish poems. https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2020/04/500-year-old-manuscript-contains-earliest-known-use-of-the-f-word/
The profanity appears in a poem recorded by a bored student in Edinburgh while under lockdown as the plague ravaged Europe—something we can all relate to these days. The poem is getting renewed attention thanks to its inclusion in a forthcoming BBC Scotland documentary exploring the country’s long, proud tradition of swearing, “Scotland—Contains Strong Language” https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000h682 .
[UPDATE 4/7/2020: Kristin Uscinski, a medieval historian at the State University of New York, Purchase, wrote in to inform us of an even earlier appearance of the F-word in the English language, “Roger F$#%-by-the-Navel who appears in some court records from 1310-11. https://www.academia.edu/28222733/An_early_fourteenth-century_use_of_the_F-word_in_Cheshire_1310_11_published_article_
Eideard 
500-year-old manuscript contains one of earliest known uses of the “F-word” : The Bannatyne Manuscript is an anthology of some 400 medieval Scottish poems. https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2020/04/500-year-old-manuscript-contains-earliest-known-use-of-the-f-word/
The profanity appears in a poem recorded by a bored student in Edinburgh while under lockdown as the plague ravaged Europe—something we can all relate to these days. The poem is getting renewed attention thanks to its inclusion in a forthcoming BBC Scotland documentary exploring the country’s long, proud tradition of swearing, “Scotland—Contains Strong Language” https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000h682 .
[UPDATE 4/7/2020: Kristin Uscinski, a medieval historian at the State University of New York, Purchase, wrote in to inform us of an even earlier appearance of the F-word in the English language, “Roger F$#%-by-the-Navel who appears in some court records from 1310-11. https://www.academia.edu/28222733/An_early_fourteenth-century_use_of_the_F-word_in_Cheshire_1310_11_published_article_