It's all about 'ass'

The word ‘ass’ has evolved over the years in spelling, meaning and context but its part in speech has always remained the same: a noun. It originated from the masculine Latin word ‘asinus’ and the feminine ‘asina’ (American Heritage 107; Chambers 56). This was later adopted by the Celts, Slavs, and the Teutons and incorporated into their own languages. The original meaning of ‘ass’ is donkey. This definition was prevalent even in Chaucer’s time around the Middle Ages as well as today in the language of the Bible, Natural History, and other fables and proverbs (Simpson 698). The Latin masculine and

feminine forms of the word ‘ass’ were replaced in Middle English by he-ass and she-ass, known today as jackass and jenny ass (Chambers 56).

Another taboo word similar in etymology to ‘ass’ is the word ‘fuck’. ‘Fuck’ possibly started off as an innocent word as well and later transformed into a taboo word. Legend tells us that during the time of the plague there was a need to increase the population of the kingdom and so the King issued a decree to do so saying to “Fornicate Under Command of the King” (Jimster). I think that the word ‘ass’ just like the word ‘fuck’ will continue to remain in our language and be used socially but shunned otherwise.

Since the time of the Greeks however, the meaning of ‘ass’ evolved to describe “clumsiness, ignorance and stupidity”. The Greeks used this word in their proverbs and fables, which made the use of this meaning more widespread (Simpson 698). We have the Greeks to thank for phrases like “stop being an ass” or “he made an ass of himself”. In Old English, ‘assa’ was used to describe “a vain, self-important, silly or aggressively stupid person”. This later transposed to the Middle English word ‘asse’ (American Heritage 107). Although the original definition was still use

Some topics in this essay:
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