Puritanism at its finest

The Middle English word ‘bougre’, or ‘heretic’, originated from Medieval Latin ‘Bulgarus’, a reference to Bulgaria’s association with the heretical Bogomil Gnostics, whom the Catholic Church smeared with accusations of sodomy.

To a prudish and puritanical Protestant Britain, when used literally, such as Randall Cotgrave’s 1611 description of a relationship between a girl and a greyhound, the word was considered incredibly explicit. However, before long writers began using it more metaphorically, such as a defiant 1647 quote, “God damn him, blood and wounds, he would bugger his soul to Hell” and 1860’s proclamation, “Take the bugger off, he is knifing me!” The word continued to soften, and eventually even women could be called ‘buggers’. Not quite gender equality, but something.