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Curse or Cuss

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Not worth a curse. I donʹt care a curse (or cuss). Here “curse” is a corruption of cerse or kerse. Similarly, the Latin nihil [nihilum] is ne hilum, not [worth] the black eye of a bean. Other phrases are “not a straw,” “not a pin,” “not a rap,” “not a dam,” “not a bit,” “not a jot,” “not a pin’s point,” “not a button.” (Anglo-Saxon, cerse, cress; German, kirsche, a cherry.)

“Wisdom and witt nowe is not worthe a kerse.”


Robert Langeland: Piers Ploughman.

 

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.

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Curate
Curé de Meudon
Curetes
Curfew Bell
Curmudgeon
Currant
Current
Currente Calamo (Latin)
Currer Bell
Curry Favour
Curse or Cuss
Curse of Scotland
Curses
Cursing by Bell, Book, and Candle
Cursitor (Latin, clericus de cursu)
Curst
Curtail
Curtain (The)
Curtain
Curtain Lecture
Curtal Friar