The original ‘curses’ were quite literally curses

Salty Romans scratched ‘binding spells’ into pieces of metal, folded them up, pierced them and hurled them into tombs to implore the gods of the underworld to ‘bind’ the various body parts of a rival or scorned lover.

While an Elizabethan Englishman might wish ‘a pox on thee’, an Irishman would go a step further, yelling, ‘to Hell with you’. Though it may seem like eternal damnation was the worst thing one could wish on another, there were other deep-cuts to be had.

A wrathful wretch might curse another’s most prized possessions, or their means of livelihood. Other times, as in the case of the Earl of Rochester’s 1673 poem, they might just burn a mistress with, “May stinking vapours choke your womb.”