Etymograph

English

asshole

Asshole is a variant of earlier arsehole, from Middle English arshole, equivalent to ass + hole.

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500arshole
  2. Middle English, derivedc. 1150–1500arsehole
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1910asshole

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500arshole
  2. Middle English, derivedc. 1150–1500arsehole
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1910asshole

Earliest quotation: 1910: “She said she couldn't wiggle when she had the…”

Formed from ass + hole

Latin asinus ‘donkey’

Old English assen ‘she-ass’

Old English assa ‘ass’

Middle English asse ‘an ass or donkey’

English ass

Proto-Germanic *hulaz ‘hollow’

Proto-Germanic *hulą ‘hollow space’

Proto-West Germanic *hol ‘hollow space, cavity’

Old English hol ‘hole, hollow place’

Middle English hole

English hole

The story

Attested from the 1370s, replacing earlier Old English earsþyrel (“anus”, literally “ass hole”). First recorded in Middle English, as ers hole (Glouc. I., dated 1379, cited after OED), ars-hole (Bodleian Ashmole MS. 1396, dated ca. 1400, ed. Robert Von Fleischhacker as Lanfrank's "Science of Cirurgie", EETS 102, 1894, cited after OED.)

Every English word from Middle English arshole

Today it means

noun The anus.

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

Etymograph / Middle English arshole / asshole

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