I recently discovered that the phrase "curry favor" comes from a medieval French *musical* about bestiality.

CW: thread contains image of a nun cleaning the horse's penis. #MedievalTwitter

The entire narrative is an allegory--with songs!--about sinfulness, in which a horse named Fauvel becomes powerful through the help of Dame Fortune, so much so that anyone wanting his favor has to brush him and clean up his shit.

The "currying" part comes from a section where people seek the powerful Fauvel's favor by currying (grooming) him (like the modern term "curry-comb"). We are told explicitly this involved cleaning up his dung.

This gets....graphic.

The power-hungry ppl cleaned Fauvel, literally "currying fauvel," a phrase that eventually morphed into "curry favor" in English.

Fauvel's name was an abbreviation for the name of the Seven Deadly Sins, emphasizing how currying him was an allegory for sin.

Note the nun.

Fauvel's "court" includes many many vices, which one editor has helpfully listed for us.

(tag yourself! I'm "sodomie")

The second half of the musical is mostly about Fauvel's desire to marry Dame Fortune, who does NOT want that.

She eventually gets Fauvel to marry a woman named Vainglory, who seems to regret her choices.

Yes, they have kids. The musical ends with a *lament* about this fact.

Modern people have done recording of this musical, and you can LISTEN to it, if you want.

All images are from Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS Français 146, except the one where you can see Fauvel's penis, which is from Dijon, Bibliothèque municipale, MS 525, f. 158.