How do you make a swear look like a deity name?

[Marscaleb]

Of course the denizens of a fantasy world wouldn't swear by the name of a religious figure from our world, and so most fantasy stories have characters exclaiming the name of some fictional god when something goes pear-shaped. Classic worldbuilding.

But when I'm trying to write my story, it always seems out of place. If someone just says some made-up and unfamiliar name of a deity, (eg "Jachoir! What was even the point of this?") I worry that it might confuse the reader, since they've never heard of this "character" before. And you could get around this with a drawn-out expression, (eg "By Ash's right hand!") but this often feels forced and unnatural; that doesn't sound like how people swear in real life.

What's a good way to have natural-sounding expressions while still making it obvious to the reader what this previously unheard-of name is about? Because it's not always obvious in the context.

 

[pmmg]

By having those gods have a role and some meaning in the story.

 

[ThinkerX]

Deity's name followed by an obscene body part mention.

 

[Mad Swede]

If you're going to do this in a way that doesn't feel forced then you need to think through the culture in your setting in som detail. The question you're trying to answer is "how do people swear?", and the answer depends on how that culture sees things.

To take some real life examples, many English swear words are about sex, body parts or body functions. Only a few are about religion. Swedish swear words are mostly about religion and only rarely about body functions, and they're never about sex. This tells you quite a bit about society and culture in those countries.

Personally I don't use swear words in my stories, instead I have my characters "swear under their breath" or "mutter an obscene oath". It makes writing and also translation quite a lot easier.