felon (n.)
c. 1300, "one who deceives or commits treason; one who is wickedor evil; evil-doer," used of Lucifer and Herod, from Old French felon
"evil-doer, scoundrel, traitor, rebel, oath-breaker, the Devil" (9c.),
from Medieval Latin fellonem (nominative fello) "evil-doer," which is
of uncertain origin, perhaps from Frankish *fillo, *filljo "person who
whips or beats, scourger" (source of Old High German fillen "to
whip"); or from Latin fel "gall, poison," on the notion of "one full
of bitterness." Celtic origins also have been proposed.
Another theory (advanced by Professor R. Atkinson of Dublin)
traces it to Latin fellare "to suck" (see fecund), which had an
obscene secondary meaning in classical Latin (well-known to readers of
Martial and Catullus), which would make a felon etymologically a
"cock-sucker." OED inclines toward the "gall" explanation, but finds
Atkinson's "most plausible" of the others.
Also by c. 1300 in English in a general legal sense "criminal; one
who has committed a felony," however that was defined. Century
Dictionary notes, "the term is not applicable after legal punishment
has been completed." In Middle English it also was an adjective,
"traitorous, wicked, malignant." Australian official James Mudie
(1837), coined felonry "as the appellative of an order or class of
persons in New South Wales,--an order which happily exists in no other
country in the world."
http://www.etymonline.com/
hello
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I am a felon. I can't vote, travel abroad, get good jobs and I'm
not a good enough person to be put on a jury. My judgment is obviously
flaw! I like yo break down the word misdemeanor. Like your demeanor
was "dis"ing someone. Like, what I was charged with bad table manners.
.....but thats ok, I hear it's hot to be a criminal. woot!

