joder

Forms

joder (first-person singular present jodo, first-person singular preterite jodí, past participle jodido)^[1] Old Spanish foder, with the participle fodido;^[1][2] hoder and oder in the 15th-century Coplas del Provincial.^[3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish foder, inherited from Latin futuō (“to have sex with (a woman)”).^[3][5][1][2] Corominas notes that Spanish and Galician-Portuguese continue a base Vulgar Latin *futere, closer to the classical consonants, whereas Italian fottere, French foutre and Catalan fotre go back to *futtere.^[3] The same Latin verb is Portuguese foder, Galician foder, Aragonese foter, Occitan fotre and Romanian fute.^[6][7]

Old Spanish /f/ became /h/, and the spelling hoder is found in the 15th century.^[3] Elsewhere the aspiration was lost, but in this word it survived everywhere as /x/.^[3][1] Orr linked this to the frequent use of the infinitive as an interjection, and Corominas to the brutal character of the word, which invites an emphatic pronunciation.^[3][1] Wiktionary compares jamelgo from Latin famelicus.^[1]

The origin of the Latin verb is unclear.^[2][8] De Vaan considers a derivation from the root of fūtō “to strike”, through a noun in -u-.^[9] Garnier proposes instead a noun “capacity to ejaculate” from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰew- (“to pour”).^[9] Wiktionary suggests *bʰew- (“to hit”), the root of fūstis (“club”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

A fuero fragment of 1182, written in Latin, lists among the forbidden insults the Romance phrase fodido en culo.^[4] The Fuero de Zorita de los Canes (1218–c. 1250) fines anyone who calls another man malato, o cornudo, o fodido two maravedís.^[4] Corominas gives the 13th-century foder of the Fuero de Usagre and other fueros, and the insult fodidenculo “passive sodomite” found in many of them.^[3] In Alfonso X's Judizios de las estrellas (c. 1254) a woman born under a certain constellation „fodera alas otras”, lies with other women.^[10]

Semantic evolution

Because texts avoided the word, its history is hard to trace: a Christian inscription in Granada (1332–1354) has the curse fodido sea, the Cancionero de Baena has foder, and the 15th-century Coplas del Provincial write hoder.^[3] Galician-Portuguese foder is copiously documented in the 13th-century satirical songs.^[3]

The figurative senses “to annoy, pester” and “to ruin” are now the commonest.^[5][11] The first record from the Americas, of 1845 in Uruguay, already means “to annoy”, and Román recorded in Chile the senses “to pester” and “to lose everything in a business”.^[12][13] Latin American Spanish adds “to joke, tease”, “to have fun”, “to harm in a deal” and, in Honduras and Nicaragua, “to wound or kill”.^[14] As an interjection it expresses anger, irritation or surprise, softened as ¡jobar!, ¡jolín! or ¡jopé!.^[5][11]

Timeline

• 1182 – a fuero fragment lists the insult fodido en culo.^[4]
• 1218–c. 1250 – the Fuero de Zorita de los Canes fines the insult fodido.^[4]
• c. 1254 – Alfonso X's Judizios de las estrellas use foder of women.^[10]
• 1332–1354 – a Christian inscription in Granada has the curse fodido sea.^[3]
• 15th century – the Coplas del Provincial spell the word hoder.^[3]
• 1845 – the first record from the Americas, in Uruguay: joder a los porteños.^[12]
• 1910 – Garzón records the Argentine senses “to pester” and “to harm”.^[15]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive, vulgar) To have sexual intercourse.^[5][11]
2. (transitive, vulgar) To have sex with someone; to fuck.^[5][1]
3. (transitive, vulgar, also intransitive) To annoy or bother someone: Ese ruido me jode mucho.^[5][1]
4. (transitive, vulgar) To wreck, ruin or spoil something: Jodió el motor en el primer viaje.^[5][11]
5. (reflexive, vulgar) To put up with something, to grin and bear it, as in hay que joderse.^[5]
6. (reflexive, vulgar) To break down or be damaged.^[5][11]
7. (Latin America, vulgar) To joke or tease; to have fun.^[14]
8. (Honduras, Nicaragua, vulgar) To wound or kill someone.^[14][1]

Interjection

1. (vulgar) Expressing anger, irritation or surprise: ¡Joder, qué frío hace!^[5][1]

Word family

• jodido
• jodienda
• joda
• jodedor
• jodón
• jodión

Related words

• jolín
• jobar
• Latin futuō
• Portuguese foder
• Catalan fotre
• French foutre

Usage notes

The DLE labels every sense malsonante, offensive.^[5] Euphemistic substitutes of the interjection include ¡jobar!, ¡jolín! (or ¡jolines!) and ¡jopé!.^[11][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. joder
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 522
4. ^ a b c d e Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. joder
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. joder
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. futuere
7. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. futuere
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ a b Kasten, Lloyd A.; Nitti, John J.; Gago Jover, Francisco (2002–), Diccionario de la prosa castellana del Rey Alfonso X, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (electronic edition 2024), p. s.v. joder
11. ^ a b c d e f Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. joder
12. ^ a b Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, p. s.v. joder
13. ^ Román, Manuel Antonio (1901–1918), Diccionario de chilenismos y de otras voces y locuciones viciosas, 5 vols., Santiago de Chile: Imprenta de San José, p. 230
14. ^ a b c Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. joder
15. ^ Garzón, Tobías (1910), Diccionario argentino, Barcelona: Imprenta Elzeviriana de Borrás y Mestres, p. 266