During the Hundred Years' War and many other conflicts between England and France in the Middle Ages, the French came to call the English (and especially their infantry) les goddamns or les goddams after their frequent expletives. Richard Francis Burton also points out the equivalent adoption of Godames in Brazil and Gotama in Somalia.[1] The term godons was used in the age of Joan of Arc with the same purpose,[2] and the forms goddam, goddem and godden also derive from that expression.
This expression has also been used by Acadians in Quebec [3] and Louisiana, and Zachary Richard has included it in the lyrics of a song in French.[4]