The further etymology is uncertain, but may be fromob-(prefix meaning ‘towards’) +caenum(“dirt, filth; mire, mud”) (possibly ultimately fromProto-Indo-European*ḱweyn-(“to make dirty, soil; filth; mud”)) orscaevus(“left, on the left side; clumsy; (figurative) unlucky”) (fromProto-Indo-European*skeh₂iwo-).[1] If so, the unexpected extra-s- may be from a variant form of the original PIE root; a similar-s- exists inex-.
[...] I did incounter thatobſeene and moſt prepoſterous euent that draweth frõ my ſnowhite pen the ebon coloured Incke, which here thou vieweſt, beholdeſt, ſuruayeſt, or ſeeſt. [...] There did I ſee that low ſpirited Swaine, [...] hightCoſtard, (Clow[ne]. O mee) ſorted and conſorted contrary to thy eſtabliſhed proclaymed Edict and continent Cannon; Which with, o with, but with this I paſſion to ſay wherewith: /Clo[wne]. With a Wench.
Neither do wee pleaſe them with their owne crimes, orobſcæne ſpectacles: whereas they celebrate both the guilt that there gods incurred who were men, and the fayned pleaſures of ſuch of them as were flat deuills.
1654,Jo[hn] Webster, “Of Scholastick Philosophy”, inAcademiarum Examen, or The Examination of Academies.[…], London:[…]Giles Calvert,[…],→OCLC, paragraph 3,page54:
Shall I recount his intemperance, voluptuouſneſs, andobſcæne manner of living? or his impious, doubtful or wicked end? no, let them be buried with his aſhes.
1990, Inder S. Rana,Law of Obscenity in India, USA & UK, New Delhi: Mittal Publications,→ISBN,page109:
What isobscene today may not be so tomorrow or what isobscene at one place may not beobscene at another place.
The chapter closes with some thoughts on theobscene consumer from both a postmodern, and especially a modern, perspective. From the latter point of view, theobscene consumer is one who either consumes too little or who consumes what are, from the perspective of consumer society, the 'wrong' things (heroin, guns). (I propose the concept of the 'dangerous consumer' here since it is clear that such consumers can pose a danger to contemporary society.) From a postmodern perspective, theobscene consumer is one who consumes in a highly visible manner.
2009, Lori Lipoma, “Kirkegaard, Contradiction, andSouth Park: The Jester’s View of Religion”, in Leslie Stratyner, James R. Keller, editors,The Deep End of South Park: Critical Essays on Television’s Shocking Cartoon Series, Jefferson, N.C.; London:McFarland & Company,→ISBN,page18:
South Park, at the end of the twentieth century, earned international acclaim as the mostobscene, scatological, sacrilegious, and popular comedy in the American mainstream and became a leading profit center for Comedy Central.
2009, Ingrid Loschek, “When is Creativity?”, in Lucinda Rennison, transl.,When Clothes become Fashion: Design and Innovation Systems, Oxford, Oxfordshire; New York, N.Y.:Berg,→ISBN, part II (Invention and Innovation),page39:
However, the new is not radical or provocative orobscene a priori. Provocation develops when the 'communicative contract' between the clothing and the consumer is broken, resulting in shocked rejection or euphoric acceptance.
1629, Fra[ncis] Lenton, “Section XIV. The Young Gallant’s Whirlgig.”, inJames Orchard Halliwell, editor,The Marriage of Wit and Wisdom, an Ancient Interlude.[…], London:[…] Shakespeare Society, published1846,→OCLC,page129:
Playes are the nurseries of vice, the bawd, / That thorow the senses steales our hearts abroad, / Tainting our eares withobscæne bawdery, / Lascivious words, and wanton ribaulry.
All masturbation isobscene, for[Roger] Scruton, also because it "involves a concentration on the body and its curious pleasures" [...].
2004 August 25, Victor T. Cheney, “Other Sex-related Problems”, inThe Sex Offenses and their Treatments: The Problem—The Solution—Commentary, Bloomington, Ind.:AuthorHouse,→ISBN,page223:
Obscene phone calling is usually considered a nuisance to the women receiving such calls from a man who makesobscene suggestions or describes his masturbation over the telephone.
He [Justin Martyr] asks how pagan gods who exhibit the same destructive passions andobscene desires as wicked humans can be worthy of worship.
2011, Alberto Salinas, Jr., “Actual Demon Possession Cases”, inThe Border Healer: My Life as a Curandero, Bloomington, Ind.:AuthorHouse,→ISBN, part 4 (Demon Possession and Exorcism),page123:
I was contacted about a two-year-old Latino male and informed that his behavior wasobscene. I was advised about this by two female relatives to the child. They had a hard time explaining to me that the boy wanted to have relations with his grandmother. [...] This boy was demon spirit possessed!
2013 January 10, Naser Hegazy, “Mozart’s Genius”, inSecrets of Love, Marriage, Sex, Genius, Success, and Happiness: Analytic View According to the Recent Scientific Studies, Bloomington, Ind.:AuthorHouse,→ISBN, part 4 (Secrets of Genius),page106:
One of his [Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's] contradictions, which is puzzling, comes from his objectivity, stubbornness, and great interest in abusive words andobscene jokes, despite his religiousness and his chastity, which he refused to abandon during his life.
Scrooge listened to this dialogue in horror. As they sat grouped about their spoil, in the scanty light afforded by the old man's lamp, he viewed them with a detestation and disgust, which could hardly have been greater, though they had beenobscene demons, marketing the corpse itself.
2002 October, Susanne Heinz, Deborah Miller, “Hogan’s Heroes”, inGrandmother’s Radio: Echoes from the Holocaust, Calgary, Alta.: Bayeux Arts,→ISBN,page66:
The reminder of who we were / made the canned laughterobscene. / Disgusted, mother returned to the kitchen, / her thoughts private.
2014 February 12, Scott Ludwig, “October”, inMy Life: Everything but BUY THE BOOK!: Part 2 of 2, Bloomington, Ind.:iUniverse,→ISBN:
Her mom made her break up with me when she found a note I wrote to Linda; she found itobscene. I found HERobscene.
2017, Kyle W. Letteney, “Self-inflicted Wound: On the Paradoxical Dimensions of American Violence”, in Tatiana Savoia Landini, François Dépelteau, editors,Norbert Elias and Violence, New York, N.Y.:Palgrave Macmillan,Springer Nature,→DOI,→ISBN, part II (Strengths and Limits),page149:
Mass shootings occur for a variety of reasons, including social frustration, alienation, detachment, and mental instability. [...] Of course it is very difficult to pinpoint why someone would resort to suchobscene violence.
Yossarian went along in Milo Minderbinder's speeding M & M staff car to police headquarters to meet a swarthy, untidy police commissioner with a narrow black mustache and unbuttoned tunic who was fiddling with a stout woman with warts and two chins when they entered his office and who greeted Milo with warm surprise and bowed and scraped inobscene servility as though Milo were some elegant marquis.
"You ate anobscene amount of those lobster patties last night, Deb." / "And I plan to eat anobscene amount of them tonight as well," I replied.
2015 February, Vivi Barnes, chapter18, in Stacy Abrams, Tara Quigley, editors,Paper or Plastic, Fort Collins, Colo.: Entangled Teen, Entangled Publishing,→ISBN:
She would probably jump at the chance to show everyone how to save anobscene amount of money with anobscene amount of coupons.
2016,Marcela Del Sol,Kaleidoscope: My Life’s Multiple Reflections, Calwell, Canberra, A.C.T.: Inspiring Publishers,→ISBN,page102:
I was never jealous or envious when it came to things. The fact that Mama wanted to shower my friend with presents never affected me. Things meant nothing to me because I had anobscene quantity of everything.
For the purposes of this Act an article shall be deemed to beobscene if its effect or (where the article comprises two or more distinct items) the effect of any one of its items is, if taken as a whole, such as to tend to deprave and corrupt persons who are likely, having regard to all relevant circumstances, to read, see or hear the matter contained or embodied in it.
2006, Philip A. Dynia, “Obscenity”, inPaul Finkelman, editor,Encyclopedia of American Civil Liberties, volumes2 (G–Q), New York, N.Y.; Abingdon, Oxfordshire:Routledge,→ISBN,page1116, column 1:
The tract was far more political and religious than sexual, but Cockburn [Sir Alexander Cockburn, 12th Baronet] found itobscene because it would suggest to young persons (of either sex) "impure and libidinous" thoughts.
2009, Andrea Millwood Hargrave,Sonia M. Livingstone, “Annex II: The Legal Framework of English Law Regulating Media Content”, inHarm and Offence in Media Content: A Review of the Evidence, 2nd edition, Fishponds, Bristol; Chicago, Ill.: Intellect Books,→ISBN,pages282–283:
The principle thatobscene material must have more serious effects than arousing feelings of revulsion leads to the doctrine that material that in fact shocks and disgusts may not beobscene, since its effect is to discourage readers from indulgence in the immorality so unappetizingly portrayed.
2016, Hugh Jones, Christopher Benson, “Defamation and Other Risks”, inPublishing Law, 5th edition, Abingdon, Oxfordshire; New York, N.Y.:Routledge,→ISBN, part IV (Publish and Be Damned),page228:
An article is notobscene simply because it is repulsive or filthy. The prosecution must prove that its tendency is strong enough actually to deprave and corrupt a significant proportion of its likely audience; in other words, to pervert or corrupt their morals sufficiently for it to constitute a public menace. [...] Anything tending to deprave or corrupt may beobscene, including material encouraging the taking of dangerous drugs or glorifying violence, particularly if it is expressly targeted at children or adolescents.
In criminal law, many jurisdictions distinguish between the termsobscene,indecent, andprofane when regulating broadcast content, withobscene typically being the most severe of the three categories.
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions atWiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
They passed the little stenchy cubicles shared by two families to a floor, and the graffiti gratuitously graven onto the walls,obscening the world and telling it, them, those, the fuzz, and everyone to go and . . .
That always came as a final apotheosis, showing Phil deep in hell, growling through Greek fire and blue smoke – that is to say, locked upstairs in the bathroom,obscening at her as he never in his lifeobscened at anybody in public, strangling her with his two fists, shoving her head down into the W.C. and pulling the chain on her for good and all.
2004, Edward Lee,The Bighead, Hiram, GA: Overlook Connection Press,→ISBN,page143:
“Fucked up, is what they are,” the priestobscened. “Pardon my language, but this is par for the course of the Catholic Church. What kind of bullshit is this?”
, Oxford:Oxford University Press, March 2004;“obscene,adj.”, inLexico,Dictionary.com;Oxford University Press,2019–2022.