Middle finger

Origin of: Middle finger

Middle finger

To give someone the middle finger, pointing it upwards while keeping the other fingers closed as in a fist, is an insulting gesture in many cultures throughout the world. Many folkloric or etymological myths have sprung up about its origin, especially the widely quoted one about the interplay between the French and English soldiery at the battle of Agincourt 1415, where the French threatened to amputate the middle fingers of the English archers to prevent them from drawing their bows, which of course is absolute rubbish. There is evidence to suggest that the gesture has been around since ancient times and that its origins lie in the fact that the middle finger is the one with the most obvious phallic connotations. For example, mention is made of the middle finger as a vulgar gesture in Aristophanes’ play The Clouds written in 423 BC, while the Romans often referred to it as digitus impudicus, the indecent finger. The English and French may well have given one another the middle finger at Agincourt. If so, they would have been using a gesture that had been around for at least two millennia. See also V sign.