fescennine (FES-uh-nayn, FES-uh-nin) - adj., scurrilous, licentious, obscene.
Originally, as Latin Fescennīnus, of or pertaining to the Etruscan town of Fescennia (near Civita Castellana, in modern Lazio), particularly their ribald harvest-festival and wedding songs. The Romans borrowed the custom of singing them for, particularly, weddings, and the term eventually became generic for a style of verse (see for example Catullus 61). English borrowed the word around 1600 for both the verse and as a general term. For usage example, something from Sir Walter Scott:
"Most frequently the dice were thrown by the company, and those upon whom the lot fell were obliged to assume and maintain for a time a certain fictitious character, or to repeat a certain number of fescennine verses in a particular order."
—Guy Mannering
---L.
