Origin of "twat"

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jfm - 10 Nov 2006 22:57 GMT

I've tried to look up the etymology of the four-letter word "twat", but
all I find is "origin obscure".

Could it have started as a jokular reference to Tuat, the
netherworld/underworld of the ancient Egyptians?

(I'm not seriously suggesting this, merely speculating, as I seem to
have a load of free time on my hands right now.)

---
jf maho

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Ray O'Hara - 10 Nov 2006 23:11 GMT

> I've tried to look up the etymology of the four-letter word "twat", but
> all I find is "origin obscure".
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
> ---
> jf maho

'

If that's the direction of your thinking it probably is a different load on
your hands, get s napkin.

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jfm - 10 Nov 2006 23:50 GMT

In "Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.0.1)" [1], I now find this:

Origin: 1650-60; perh. orig. dial. var. of *thwat,
*thwot, presumed mod. E outcome of OE *thwat, akin to
ON thveit cut, slit, forest clearing (> E dial. (N
England) thwaite forest clearing)

I suppose that sounds more reasonable than Tuat, especially if the
usage dates to the 1600s.

However, the earliest reference I can find (on the web) is dated 1841.
I don't have access to the web version of OED, so I can't check if that
really is the earliest known use.

I'm curious in what types of contexts the earliest uses would have
occured in. Poems, song texts, plays, whatever.

[1] at: http://dictionary.reference.com

---
jf maho

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John Dean - 11 Nov 2006 15:47 GMT

> In "Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.0.1)" [1], I now find this:
>
[quoted text clipped - 9 lines]
> I don't have access to the web version of OED, so I can't check if
> that really is the earliest known use.

OED's early cites are:

1. (See quot. 1727.)
Erroneously used (after quot. 1660) by Browning Pippa Passes iv. ii. 96
under the impression that it denoted some part of a nun's attire.
1656 R. Fletcher tr. Martial ii. xliv. 104. 1660 Vanity of Vanities 50
They talk't of his having a Cardinalls Hat, They'd send him as soon an Old
Nuns Twat. a1704 T. Brown Sober Slip in Dark Wks. 1711 IV. 182 A dang'rous
Street, Where Stones and Twaits in frosty Winters meet. 1719 D'Urfey Pills
III. 307. 1727 Bailey vol. II, Twat, pudendum muliebre. Twat-scowerer, a
Surgeon or Doctor. E. Ward.

Signature

John Dean
Oxford

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jfm - 13 Nov 2006 00:41 GMT

> OED's early cites are:

Thanks!

Now I'm curious about the form "twait":

> 1711 IV. 182 A dang'rous
> Street, Where Stones and Twaits in frosty Winters meet.

That's not used in modern-day English, is it? Or is it a word-play on
something I'm ignorant about?

---
jf maho

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mike.j.harvey@gmail.com - 14 Nov 2006 16:20 GMT

In the UK I these days I often hear & see the word 'twat' used as a
variant of 'twit', signifying a mildly ridiculous (usually male)
person. However, potentially dangerously, it is also synonymous with
'vagina'. A girlfriend once told me that chlorine in swimming pool
water often gave her a 'sore twat'. I have seen the variants 'twot',
and 'twotty' in readers letters to Fiesta magazine.

A 'twud' was Suffolk dialect for a toad...

There was the famous Twat v. Browning case.

In the poem Pippa Passes, Robert Browning used the word "twat" under
the misimpression that it was an article of nun's clothing:

Then owls and bats
Cowls and twats
Monks and nuns in a cloister's moods
Adjourn to the oak-stump pantry

Anyway, bemused etymologists eventually tracked down the source of
Browning's confusion. It was a 17th-century satirical poem called
"Vanity of Vanities"; the relevant lines are:

They talk'd of his having a Cardinall's Hat
They'd send him as soon an Old Nun's Twat

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Discussion Groups / English Usage / November 2006

Origin of "twat"