Etymograph

English

ass

Ass comes from Middle English asse ‘an ass or donkey’, and goes back to Latin asinus.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEasinus‘donkey’
  2. Old Englishc. 450–1150assen‘she-ass’
  3. Old English, derivedc. 450–1150assa‘ass’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500asse‘an ass or donkey’
  5. Englishearliest quotation c. 1599–1602ass

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEasinus‘donkey’
  2. Old Englishc. 450–1150assen‘she-ass’
  3. Old English, derivedc. 450–1150assa‘ass’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500asse‘an ass or donkey’
  5. Englishearliest quotation c. 1599–1602ass

Earliest quotation: c. 1599–1602, William Shakespeare, The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke: “Oh Vengeance! / Who? What an Aſſe am I?”

The story

Sense “stupid person” from the animal's reputation for stubbornness, going back to antiquity (compare Latin asinus (‘slow-witted person’)).

Linked words

through Latin asinus ‘donkey, ass’

easel, asinine, 1 more

Another origin of ass

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₁órs-o-s‘rear-end’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*arsaz‘arse/ass, anus, buttocks’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*ars‘arse, anus, buttocks’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150ærs
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500ars‘arse, anus’
  6. Englishtodayass

Etymological notes Contrary to the widespread belief of this being a euphemism, it arose as a pronunciation spelling (of the older form arse still used in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, etc.) that shows the assimilation of /ɹ/ before coronal consonants (especially /s/), a phenomenon that has been present in nonstandard speech from the Middle English period onwards; this is distinct from the later phenomenon of non-rhoticity as /ɹ/ was lost before it could modify the preceding vowel. Other instances of this phenomenon (some of which retained both spellings with different meanings) include cuss from curse, gash from garsh, bass (‘fish’) from barse, bust from burst, passel from parcel; see :Category:English terms with assimilation of historic /ɹ/ for a more extensive list.

Today it means

noun Any of several species of horse-like animals, especially Equus asinus, the domesticated of which are used as beasts of burden.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Latin asinus / ass

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