In Finnish the origin for "curse word" comes from incantation / casting a spell. At least nowadays the root word means purely a hostile spell, or a hex. I'd say

In Finnish the origin for "curse word" comes from incantation / casting a spell. At least nowadays the root word means purely a hostile spell, or a hex. I'd say in modern use basically equivalent to "a curse" in English, as the magical aspect isn't really present in the society any more. I can't say if it has originally also included benevolent spells.