History of the term Cuckold
Well, I am not going to bore you with all of the details of when the prefix of the term cuckold was first used or when the suffix of the word was first used in the history of languages. But I will tell you that it was derived from old French. The interesting part of the history of the word cuckold, is that varieties of the cuckoo female birds lay their eggs in other bird’s nests, so that they eleviate themselves from the need to nurture the eggs to hatching.
Cuckolds are sometimes refers to as “wearing the horns of a cuckold” or simply “wearing the horns”. The means that the man being cuckolded, or cheated on, is the last person to know of his wife’s infidelity. He is wearing horns that can be seen by everybody except him.
There is a tradition that claims in villages of unknown European locations, the citizens would gather to collectively humiliate the cuckold whose wife gives birth to a child obviously not his own. Based on this legend, a parade was held in which the hopeless cuckold husband is forced to wear antlers on his head as a symbol of his wife’s infedility. It is not confirmed whether or not this actually happened. However, the phrase has survived. There is also an Italian insult that refers to a man wearing horns because his wife cheated on him.
Cultural Usage
In many countries, the cuckold horns are a metaphor for suffering the infidelity of a partner. In modern day usage, this is not limited to husbands. The gesture of the horned hand is used to insult the cuckold.
In Portuguese, the cuckoldry terms are used to mock the cheated male partner. The expression is used to the men who are cheated on by their partners, but come to terms with it and accept it as a part of their life.
The Spanish word for cuckold is used to describe a male partner whose female partner is sexually unfaithful. A consenting cuckold is so offensive that it is a taboo word and rarely ever used for its original meaning.
In Polish thw word meaning horned one is used along with the phrase meaning to put horns on somebody. In Serbian, the cuckold terms have similar meaning. In Czech and Slovak, the terms have similar meanings whereas they are referred to as antlered one and to put antlers on someone rather than horns.
In Trinidad and Tobago, the term horn is used along with cuckolds, or anyone of either sex who has a cheating spouse. To sleep with someone else’s spouse means to horn. Horning is the act of cheating on your spouse. Horner man is a man who is sleeping with someone else’s spouse. Horner woman is a woman who is sleeping with somone else’s spouse.
This horn analogy extends to Turkey where the cuckolded husband is deemed to be the horned one. This also refers to women who are cheated on. A similar analogy exists in Greece, whereas the term also means the horned one.
Cuckold or Cuckoldry as a Fetish
A cuckold fetishist is aware of the spouse’s activity and derives sexual pleasure from it. The knowledge and tolerance of the spouse’s activities makes the person in such relationships, the cuckold. In the fetish cuckolding subculture, the female is normally sexually dominant. The male is typically submissive. He is only sexually involved with his dominant wife or her lover when she permits it. Often times the cuckold remains completely celibate. The wife who enjoys cuckolding her husband is referred to as the hotwife or cuckoldress.
