Everyone has already given the middle finger, some do it in front, others behind the back. But do you know where this gesture comes from? In On 8/9, Queeny Arickx looks back at the origins of fuck from Antiquity to the present day.
The first writings about the middle finger in the air date back to antiquity, at that time the middle finger was called “catapygeon” (towards the buttocks). The raised middle finger represented a phallus and the other fingers lowered on either side represented the testicles, all of which were held out to those who received anal penetration.
One of the first documented appearances of the middle finger dates from 423 BC, in a comedy titled The clouds of Aristophanes. In the play, the main character, who is called Strepsiadès wants to make fun of Socrates whose disciple he is. When Socrates asks him if he knows meter in poetry, Strepsiades replies “No and you, do you know him?” mimicking his penis with his finger. This gesture will then spread and in Ancient Rome, it is called shameless finger (immodest finger).
In the Middle Ages, this gesture is known but the dominant Catholic thought strongly condemns it. In 1415 the English version of the middle finger, the V, came to us during the Hundred Years War. The English were winning quite a few battles. When the French captured English soldiers, they cut off their middle fingers and the English taunted them by showing them their two fingers with which they unhook their arrows.
And even if the middle finger in the air is understood almost everywhere, in some countries other gestures have the same meaning.
- The famous English V
- The thumb between the two fingers in Turkey
- The outstretched hand in Greece
- Crossing your fingers in Vietnam
- Thumbs up in Iraq and Iran
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