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Obscure words of infidelity and its aftermath
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Definition: “One that is false to the bed; one that ranges or swerves from one bed to another.” (Samuel Johnson, A Dictionary of the English Language , 1755)
Bedswerver appears to have come from the fertile pen of William Shakespeare, who may or may not have coined the word (we have no evidence of it being used prior to its appearance in the Bard’s Winter’s Tale ). It did not gain much traction in the language in common use over the next few centuries. However, lexicographers have long had a soft spot for Shakespeare, and so have included words from his works even if they lacked currency. Samuel Johnson entered the word in his 1755 dictionary, from where it was copied into the dictionaries of Thomas Sheridan (1789) and John Walker (1791).
One of the few non-lexicographic works in which bedswerver does appear at this time is, oddly enough, Joseph Neef’s 1813 treatise The Method of Instructing Children Rationally in the Arts of Writing and Reading : “She told me weeping and groaning that thou art a bedswerver.”
Definition: a woman whose husband is unfaithful to her
There are times when the number of words for a certain thing does not quite reflect the character of humanity itself. There are dozens of words in English synonymous with cuckold (“a man who has an unfaithful partner”)—to be honest, we really don't need that many—yet, for a woman in the same position, there is but a single word.
We are lexicographers, not sociologists, and usually confine our opinions to the realm of words, rather than social matters. But even in this restricted role we feel comfortable saying that this ratio is not exactly reflective of the way people actually behave.
The Kings three Sonnes had notice of their Fathers Leiman now,
So had the Queene, and the yof such coriuing disallowe.
Came I from France Queene Dowager, quoth she, to pay so deere
For bringing him so great a wealth as to be Cuckquean'd heere?
Am I so old a woman, he so young a wanton growen,
As that I may not please, that pleas'd, and still might with his owen? — William Warner, Albions England , 1597
Definition: a man who is aware of and submits to his wife's infidelity
Wittol shares part of its origin with cuckold , attaching what is now an archaic sense of wit (“to know”) onto part of cokewold (an older form of cuckold ). Wittol has also been used in the general sense of “fool.”
You reckless sinner, cease!
Think me, and make me, whatsoe'er you will;
I will not be called wittol to my teeth. — George Henry Boker, Königsmark , 1869
Definition: a boisterous procession intended to ridicule an unfaithful spouse or a shrewish wife often with effigies and a mock serenade
Here is a friendly reminder of how much we as a society have advanced: we no longer publicly tease people whose spouses have cheated on them. Okay, we don't usually , at least. And when we do it's hardly ever with a parade or “boisterous procession." In addition to the public spectacle, skimmington may refer to “one publicly impersonating and ridiculing a henpecked or cuckolded husband or his shrewish or unfaithful wife.” Rude.
Bantam: But has she beaten him?
Shakestone: Grievously broke his head in I know not how many places: of which the hoydens have taken notice, and will have a Skimington on horse-backe presently. Looke ye, here comes both plaintiffe and defendant. — Thomas Heywood, The Late Lancashire Witches , 1634
Bastard is a useful word in many settings and has a wide array of forms, but we recognize that not everyone shares this sentiment. Should you have need of such a word but circumstances (or your own sense of decorum) make the B-word unpalatable, you might perhaps consider adulterine . In addition to its adjectival sense adulterine may also function as a noun (“one who is born of adultery”), or may be used to mean “spurious” or “illegal.”
The children of the Marquis de Boefle, and those of the Marquis de Langey, are all, considered in a certain point of view, no other than bastards and adulterines; and, under another, they are a legitimate offspring, entitled to the rights, the honours, and the privileges of society. — M. de Lignac, A Physical View of Man and Woman in a State of Marriage, With Anatomical Engravings , 1798
Definition: law : expressed or implied forgiveness by a husband or a wife of a breach of marital duty (as adultery) by the other with an implied condition that the offense shall not be repeated
Condonation , which comes from the Latin word condonare (“to give away, absolve”) has been in use with a general meaning since the beginning of the 17th century. The word’s initial meaning hewed close to its etymological origins: “pardon of an offense : voluntary overlooking or implied forgiveness of an offense by treating the offender as if it had not been committed.” By the late 18th century condonation had worked its way into the terminilogy of the legal profession.
Condonation must be given with knowledge, and also with the intention to forgive. Nothing is clearer in this case than that Mr. Ellis did not intend to forgive his wife. — Central Law Journal , Vol. 33, 31 Jul. 1891
Definition: a fine for adultery or fornication
Very few dictionaries still include words with “a fine for sexual relations” in their definitions, since we don’t really bother with this sort of thing quite so much as we used to. The Oxford English Dictionary , however, is of a historical bent (including words which may not have been in common use for hundreds of years now), and thus has something of an embarrassment of riches when it comes to such terms.
In addition to lecherwite they include the even more specific lairwite (which is especially used when the person with whom one adulterates is a bondswoman), buttock-mail (a good, all-purpose word for fines accrued from sexual shenanigans), and several others that our fingers blush to type.
…or that the Lord or Lady of the Manor of Coveny in the County of Cambridge, should have for every Fornication or Adultery committed in the Manor, a Lecherwyte, or penalty of 5 s. …. — Fabian Philipps. The Mistaken Recompense , 1664
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Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Yes, that's her name! His cuckquean she is; his wife she is not and never shall be!
A formidable woman of real power and prestige, she emerged from the Monica affair much more cuckold than cuckquean . Her husband’s perfidy did, in a sense, disturb the natural order of things; in the post-feminist age, ...
The rumors about his serial philandering had been out there for years, but a friendly liberal press had not tried very hard to confirm the allegations, and the missus was apparently resigned to the role of a stoic cuckquean .
± show ▼ woman who has an unfaithful husband
± show ▼ To make a woman into a cuckquean
Blend of cuckold +‎ quean ( “ disreputable woman ” ) .

Qualifier: (e.g. literally, formally, slang)
Script code : (e.g. Cyrl for Cyrillic, Latn for Latin)
Nesting: (e.g. Serbo-Croatian/Cyrillic)
cuckquean ( third-person singular simple present cuckqueans , present participle cuckqueaning , simple past and past participle cuckqueaned )

Qualifier: (e.g. literally, formally, slang)
Script code : (e.g. Cyrl for Cyrillic, Latn for Latin)
Nesting: (e.g. Serbo-Croatian/Cyrillic)

Russian: наста́вить рога́ (ru) ( nastávitʹ rogá )

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Published September 5, 2007 4:52PM (EDT)

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Love And Sex

With every breaking political sex scandal -- and the ensuing awkward press conference/photo opp -- it becomes more and more tempting to imagine little thought balloons over the heads of the stoic, forbearing wives. ("Well, this explains a lot." "Game face game face game face." "Dude. Diapers?" )
In her blog yesterday, Susie Bright went farther, offering a thoughtful, if partly speculative, psychosexual profile of the cuckolded [political] wife, and dropping in along the way the unsurprisingly underused Canterbury Tales-tastic term cuckquean. "The spectacle of a prominent woman standing by her man, now revealed to be an adulterer -- and of a bent that she could never satisfy -- is one of the bewildering aspects of the recent Prig-Freak scandals," Bright writes. "Some say there's one explanation for the wifely stoicism: 'She's protecting her investment.'"
Sure, sure. But what interests Bright more is what's behind that game face -- that is, how these wives feel about the (ostensible) sexual vacuum in their bedrooms -- and why we don't talk about that. "There's a part to the cuckquean's inevitable reaction that is completely denied, because of our cultural inability to imagine a woman's sexual outrage ... For all the spicy details we've learned recently about tearoom cruising or diaper fetishes -- the man's sex life -- when does the subject turn to the sexual lives of the cuckolded women?" she says. "It terrifies us that sex might actually matter to women as much as it does to men."
I'd argue that we are actually plenty able to imagine a woman's sexual outrage -- pruriently so, in fact. To me, that's why female sexual desire, at any rate, is so often portrayed as a "mania" ("nympho-," to be precise). And that seems to be where the "terror" comes in. The cuckquean may look cucumber cool at the press conference, live from Stepford -- but, Bright says, be afraid, very afraid. "The only thing that ever really belonged to her -- to her alone --was her sexual identity and self-confidence. Her STUFF. If she was deceived or deprived of those big eggs, or if she never knew what to do with them in the first place, she's been damaged, and it's no careless stripping," Bright writes. "There is a female hellfire, and if our myth-making of events fails to take in a cuckquean's sexual imperative, we're all in for a little taste of it."
P.S. Word nerds: It's neologism time! Anyone got anything more felicitous than cuckquean?
Award-winning journalist Lynn Harris is author of the comic novel "Death by Chick Lit" and co-creator of BreakupGirl.net. She also writes for the New York Times, Glamour, and many others.
Copyright © 2022 Salon.com, LLC. Reproduction of material from any Salon pages without written permission is strictly prohibited. SALON ® is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office as a trademark of Salon.com, LLC. Associated Press articles: Copyright © 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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