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ass

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English has two words spelled ass: the donkey, from Latin asinus, and the slang word for the buttocks, a variant of arse.[1][2][3]

Pronunciation

ass1 donkey

Etymology

The donkey is inherited from Middle English asse,[1][2] inherited from Old English assa, masculine,[3][5] probably borrowed from Old Irish asan,[2][5] or from a related Celtic form such as Middle Welsh asen,[5][6] from Latin asinus.[3][1][5] De Vaan says that the form of asinus suggests a loanword into Latin, and that most Indo-European words for “ass” are loanwords;[3] like Greek ónos it is thought to come from a language of Asia Minor (compare Sumerian anšu).[3][5] Old Saxon esil, German Esel and Gothic asilus come from Latin asinus or asellus by another route.[7][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old English assa is recorded before 830, in the Vespasian Psalter,[5] and the feminine assen about 1000.[5] These forms were replaced in Middle English by he-ass and she-ass, before 1382 in Wycliffe's Bible.[5]

Semantic evolution

Since Greek times the ass has stood in fables and proverbs for clumsiness and stupidity,[3][8] and a stupid person has been an ass from the 15th century[7] (1578 in the OED).[8] To make an ass of oneself is from A Midsummer Night's Dream (1590).[3][8] The Asses' Bridge, from Latin pons asinorum, is the fifth proposition of the first book of Euclid, from about 1780.[3][8] In everyday use donkey has largely replaced the word, but ass remains in the language of Scripture, natural history, proverb and fable.[3]

Timeline

  • before 830 – Old English assa.[5]
  • before 1382 – he-ass and she-ass.[5]
  • 15th century – a stupid person.[7]
  • 1590 – to make an ass of oneself.[3][8]
  • c. 1780 – the Asses' Bridge.[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A hoofed animal related to the horse, smaller and with longer ears; the donkey.
  2. A foolish or stupid person.

Word family

  • jackass
  • asinine

ass2 buttocks

Etymology

The buttocks is a dialect variant pronunciation of arse,[3][6][9] inherited from Middle English ars, ers,[2][1] inherited from Old English ærs, ears,[2][1] from Proto-Indo-European *ors-.[1] The loss of -r- before -s- is not unusual, as in bust from burst and cuss from curse.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

“The backside”: by 1860, in nautical slang;[3][8] it came into popular use from 1930, chiefly in the United States.[3]

Semantic evolution

Indirect evidence of the change from arse to ass goes back to the 17th century: by the 1680s arse was rhymed with “-ass” words,[3] and some see a pun in Shakespeare's turning of Nick Bottom into an ass.[3] By 1785 polite speakers were avoiding ass even in the sense “donkey”.[3] A woman regarded as a sexual object is from the early 1940s (1942),[3][8] and one's ass, “one's self, one's person”, is attested by 1958.[3][8] The word is used casually in many phrases as an intensifier, from 1946.[8]

Timeline

  • 1680s – arse rhymed with “-ass” words.[3]
  • 1860 – the backside (nautical slang).[3][8]
  • 1930 – in popular use.[3]
  • 1942 – sexual sense.[8]
  • 1958 – one's ass, oneself.[3][8]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. (chiefly US, vulgar) The buttocks; the anus.
  2. (vulgar) Sexual intercourse; a person regarded as a sexual object.
  3. (vulgar) Oneself: get your ass over here.

Word family

  • badass
  • smart-ass
  • kick-ass

Usage notes

In British English the word for the buttocks is usually spelled and pronounced arse.[6][9] In the dialects of Durham, the Lake District, Yorkshire and Lancashire ass was also a form of “ask”.[10]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  2. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  6. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  9. ^ a b Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  10. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)