Uploaded February 2012 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
A cuckold is a husband whose wife has been unfaithful to him. It was felt by some men to be the ultimate humiliation.
The word cuckold is derived from cuckoo - a bird that lays it's eggs in other bird's nests, to be fed and nurtured by them. Impregnating another man's wife is a way of fathering children and escaping the cost and burden of fatherhood. But why did he "have to be four times cuckold". Would not once have been enough?
"Wise are the Children in these dayes that know their owne fathers, especially if they be begotten in Dogge daies , when their mothers are frantick with love." ...... R. Greene, Menaphon (dog days are the hottest days of summer when passions are supposed to run high)
Similarly, in the Merchant of Venice, "It's a wise father that knows his own child".
There's a lot of literature about cuckoldry: Chaucer's The Miller's Tale, for example.
Today, if a married man believes he's the father of his children, there is still 1 chance in 25 that he isn't the father of each child. It's higher for the first child, about 1 in 10, and lower for subsequent children.
menshealth.about.com/od/lifestyle/a/paternity.htm
The effect of DNA testing has made little difference because comparatively few children are tested. Before the DNA test was introduced in 1988 there was no way of knowing for sure whether any particular man was the father. There are various Mendelian traits that are dominant, meaning that if they are not present in the child fatherhood is less likely - the best known ones are hanging earlobes, the cleft chin and the widow's peak.
The cuckold is traditionally shown wearing horns, but nobody really knows why. There is a rude gesture that can be directed at a man which implies he is a cuckold. The clenched fists are placed at either side of the forehead with the index fingers pointing up in imitation of horns. It's uncommon in England and America - but on the continent of Europe it's still used.
A classic scholar will immediate recognise the influence of Catullus, but it's an imitation, not a translation. There aren't in fact any really effective translations of Catullus. How, for instance, can you convey his anguish when he says the girl he loves has sex with hundreds of men but loves nobody, she just uses men up "sed identidem omnium Ilia rumpens" usually rendered as "leaving their loins limp".
The first picture of an effeminate young man is from Rob Roy: he is Archibald Cunningham, played by Tim Roth. It shows that an outward appearances can be misleading. The bully feels safe in insulting him but Archibald, who is a nasty piece of work gets him into a swordfight and cuts him to pieces gracefully, - his appearance is deceptive - it may be that expert swordsmen deliberately cultivated a foppish manner. Here's the clip.
youtube.com/watch?v=gVdwrRkmxsE
Archibald is just a fictional character - yet he has the affectations of real swordsmen of the day. The Chevalier D'Eon, for instance, was an expert swordsman who fought duels over insults because he looked like a woman - and he was eventually ordered by the King to dress as a woman.
kirjasto.sci.fi/deon.htm
"The Cuckold Departs for the Hunt" was drawn by Isaac Cruikshank. Note the adulterer hiding under his wife's bed, waiting to service her.
1st-art-gallery.com/Isaac-Cruikshank/The-Cuckold-Departs-For-The-Hunt.html
Nine adulteries, 12 liaisons, 64 fornications and
something approaching a rape
Rest nightly upon the soul of our delicate friend Florialis,
And yet the man is so quiet and reserved in demeanour
That he passes for both bloodless and sexless.
Bastidides, on the contrary, who both talks and writes
of nothing save copulation,
Has become the father of twins,
But he accomplished this feat at some cost;
He had to be four times cuckold.
A cuckold is a husband whose wife has been unfaithful to him. It was felt by some men to be the ultimate humiliation.
The word cuckold is derived from cuckoo - a bird that lays it's eggs in other bird's nests, to be fed and nurtured by them. Impregnating another man's wife is a way of fathering children and escaping the cost and burden of fatherhood. But why did he "have to be four times cuckold". Would not once have been enough?
"Wise are the Children in these dayes that know their owne fathers, especially if they be begotten in Dogge daies , when their mothers are frantick with love." ...... R. Greene, Menaphon (dog days are the hottest days of summer when passions are supposed to run high)
Similarly, in the Merchant of Venice, "It's a wise father that knows his own child".
There's a lot of literature about cuckoldry: Chaucer's The Miller's Tale, for example.
Today, if a married man believes he's the father of his children, there is still 1 chance in 25 that he isn't the father of each child. It's higher for the first child, about 1 in 10, and lower for subsequent children.
menshealth.about.com/od/lifestyle/a/paternity.htm
The effect of DNA testing has made little difference because comparatively few children are tested. Before the DNA test was introduced in 1988 there was no way of knowing for sure whether any particular man was the father. There are various Mendelian traits that are dominant, meaning that if they are not present in the child fatherhood is less likely - the best known ones are hanging earlobes, the cleft chin and the widow's peak.
The cuckold is traditionally shown wearing horns, but nobody really knows why. There is a rude gesture that can be directed at a man which implies he is a cuckold. The clenched fists are placed at either side of the forehead with the index fingers pointing up in imitation of horns. It's uncommon in England and America - but on the continent of Europe it's still used.
A classic scholar will immediate recognise the influence of Catullus, but it's an imitation, not a translation. There aren't in fact any really effective translations of Catullus. How, for instance, can you convey his anguish when he says the girl he loves has sex with hundreds of men but loves nobody, she just uses men up "sed identidem omnium Ilia rumpens" usually rendered as "leaving their loins limp".
The first picture of an effeminate young man is from Rob Roy: he is Archibald Cunningham, played by Tim Roth. It shows that an outward appearances can be misleading. The bully feels safe in insulting him but Archibald, who is a nasty piece of work gets him into a swordfight and cuts him to pieces gracefully, - his appearance is deceptive - it may be that expert swordsmen deliberately cultivated a foppish manner. Here's the clip.
youtube.com/watch?v=gVdwrRkmxsE
Archibald is just a fictional character - yet he has the affectations of real swordsmen of the day. The Chevalier D'Eon, for instance, was an expert swordsman who fought duels over insults because he looked like a woman - and he was eventually ordered by the King to dress as a woman.
kirjasto.sci.fi/deon.htm
"The Cuckold Departs for the Hunt" was drawn by Isaac Cruikshank. Note the adulterer hiding under his wife's bed, waiting to service her.
1st-art-gallery.com/Isaac-Cruikshank/The-Cuckold-Departs-For-The-Hunt.html
Nine adulteries, 12 liaisons, 64 fornications and
something approaching a rape
Rest nightly upon the soul of our delicate friend Florialis,
And yet the man is so quiet and reserved in demeanour
That he passes for both bloodless and sexless.
Bastidides, on the contrary, who both talks and writes
of nothing save copulation,
Has become the father of twins,
But he accomplished this feat at some cost;
He had to be four times cuckold.
