King
Henry V of England's victory over the French in the Battle
of Agincourt on October 25, 1415 has been attributed to the
overwhelming superiority of the English longbow. Henry
matched his force of approximately 5700 men against the
French, some 25,000 strong, outside the village of
Agincourt, south of Calais in the north of France.
Prior to the battle, confident of victory due to their
superior numbers, the French cockily proposed to cut off the
middle finger of all captured English soldiers. English
archers had the reputation of firing up to twenty rounds a
minute. Evidence of the longbow's ability to prove decisive
in battle had been demonstrated in the earlier battles of
Crecy and Poitiers where immense numbers of knights were
slaughtered before they ever got close to the English. Since
it is impossible to draw the longbow without the third
finger it would therefore, render the men incapable of using
a longbow in the future. Word spread quickly throughout the
French army and, as intended, made itself know to the
English.
Inspired by King Henry's passionate call to fight beside
him on St. Crispin's Day, the English forces formed up in
four ranks with their archers in front. They advanced, then
halted and drove stakes into the ground to deter oncoming
French cavalry. The ground was thick with mud, which,
combined with the heavy rain of fierce arrows and the row of
stakes, thwarted the French cavalry. The English foot
soldiers attacked, engaging in hand-to-hand combat and
defeated the first line of the French force. The English
continued to advance upon the second and third lines,
driving the French from the field. The French lost over 6000
men while the English marked only 1600 casualties.
The famous longbow was made from the wood of the Yew
tree, whereby the act of drawing the longbow was known as to
'pluck yew'. In the aftermath of the battle, the triumphant
English, mocking the defeated French, began waving their
middle fingers at them and shouting, "See, we can still
pluck yew! PLUCK YEW!"
Since 'pluck yew' is rather difficult to say the
consonant blend at the beginning has gradually changed to a
labiodental fricative 'F'. It is also because of the
feathers on the arrows that the gesture, holding up the lone
middle finger, is known as "giving the bird". After all, if
you're drawing a bow and loosing an arrow at someone, you
are, obviously, sending 'the bird' with a rather specific
intention, not all together pleasant for the recipient. How
these words, often used in conjunction with the
one-finger-salute, are mistakenly thought to have something
to do with an encounter of a closer proximity is another
story.
And yew all thought yew knew everything!
