Condom has a ‘sheepish’ past

TEN years ago, the news that the pope has relaxed previous Vatican rulings against the use of condoms has been all over the front pages.

This development has been seen as a significant shift by a generally conservative pope in the whole Catholic policy of hostility towards birth control, even though the pontiff made the reservation of “certain cases” to prevent infection.

Indeed, it has been the context of the Aids pandemic which first brought the word into general currency about 20 years ago.

However, about a century ago the word “condom” was so taboo that it was originally excluded from the Oxford English Dictionary, one adviser writing that it was “too utterly obscene” for inclusion.

The first reference dates from 1706, which is surprisingly late and even at that period, it was sometimes printed “c-----”.

The usual contexts in which this underground word appeared were of the libertine or playboy’s need for contraception and/or protection against syphilis.

One dictionary says that the early models of the condoms were made from the dried gut of a sheep.

The etymology remains fascinatingly evasive and the origin has never been proven, though in earlier times it was claimed to be named after a physician.