(22-07-2023, 11:42 AM)Koen G wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.In Dutch, take for example a word like "potverdorie", a minced version of "godverdomme". The word "pot" exists, but "verdorie" is nonsense. And people don't tend to think of an actual pot when saying potverdorie. Words like "gosh" and "darn" don't exist either. The preexistence of a certain word may help the expletive move towards it, of course. In the Dutch example, the fact that "pot" existed already will certainly be relevant. But the minced version will be its own separate entity.
Thanks, that indeed makes complete sense. All of these examples are euphemisms, where the speaker prefers a 'lite' version compared to the full-blown swear word. 'Potverdorie' even has two, and each one of them could also be used separately.
I find this word highly interesting, because it is basically the same thing as our 'poxleber', where the 'g' of 'Gott' became a 'p'. I don't know how old the Dutch 'pot-' varieties are, but it is kind of tempting to think that this could even be a direct descendant.
But that doesn't matter.
Clearly, and I agree, the euphemisms do not have to be existing words, and poxleber is an example, though it certainly is a meaningful word.
I suspect that we are much in the same situation as with the crossbow sagisttarius a decade or so ago, where we just knew of one example, and there were plenty more to be found.

