Cuckold

Caburus

Active Member
The word cuckold is applied to a man who has an unfaithful wife, and the cuckolded man is said to have grown horns. The word cuckold is meant to relate to the word cuckoo, the female of which lays its eggs in other birds' nests.
Does anyone know of an alternative derivation for this word? It is the wife who is behaving like a cuckoo, not the husband, so why is he called a cuckoo? What is the link between cuckoos and horns (surely the husband should grow feathers, or wings?). And horns traditonally symbolise virility and strength, so why is the husband said to grow them - surely it would be more likely to say that he had lost his horns (with the accompanying innuendoes) when he can no longer 'keep' his wife.
 

Nadai

Active Member
I remember hearing that word! Steve Carell used the word several times in the movie Crazy, Stupid, Love. Wonderful movie, by the way!
Cuckold is the term used to describe the hatchlings the Cuckoo that has been raised by another bird. The connection comes from not knowing in who's bed you lay. The hatchling does not know their real parents just like the husband does not know which who he lays (because she has been with someone else)... At least I'm sure that's how they figured it when they came up with the term.
 

RLynn

Active Member
I think the term cukold is not very kind to the husband whose wife has committed adultery. On the other hand, he initially may have been at fault for not providing sufficient sexual satisfaction. The horns may be a reference to his "balls" being in the head rather than the groin where they belong.
 

Caburus

Active Member
Additional; in Greek mythology the cuckoo is a symbol of the goddess Hera, and represents her seduction by Zeus when he disguised himself as that bird. Zeus is known for his philandering, and Hera for her long suffering jealousy. So the cuckoo either represents Zeus and HIS adultery, or the wife of an adulterous husband. Its the man who is acting like a cuckoo, leaving his offspring in other mens' beds. That makes more symbolic sense, for the idea of the cuckoo (the woman) bringing other men's offspring (laying eggs) into her own nest doesn't fit.
Somewhere along the way the man's adultery got transfered to the woman being the adulteror, and he is now the victim. Perhaps it means he's been cuckoo'd by someone else; another man is being the cuckoo. It doesn't refer to the woman at all.
Could the horns be a hang-over from when the man was originally the 'cuckoo' and the virile progeniter?
 
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