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First Known Use: before 12th century

 

 

Online Etymology Dictionary provides us with the following information:

 

ass (n.1)    beast of burden, Old English  assa  (Old Northumbrian  assal,  assald) "he-ass," probably from Old Celtic  *as(s)in  "donkey," which (with German  esel, Gothic  asilus, Lithuanian  asilas, Old Church Slavonic  osl) ultimately is from Latin  asinus, which is probably of Middle Eastern origin (cf. Sumerian  ansu).

For al schal deie and al schal passe, Als wel a Leoun as an asse. [John Gower, "Confessio Amantis," 1393]

Since ancient Greek times, in fables and parables, the animal typified clumsiness and stupidity (hence  asshead, late 15c., etc.). To  make an ass of oneself  is from 1580s.  Asses' Bridge  (c.1780), from Latin  Pons Asinorum, is fifth proposition of first book of Euclid's "Elements." In Middle English, someone uncomprehending or unappreciative would be  lik an asse that listeth on a harpe. In 15c., an  ass man  was a donkey driver.

ass (n.2)  slang for "backside," first attested 1860 in nautical slang, in popular use from 1930; chiefly U.S.; from dialectal variant pronunciation of  arse  (q.v.). The loss of  -r-  before  -s-attested in several other words (e.g.  burst/bust,  curse/cuss,  horse/hoss,  barse/bass). Indirect evidence of the change from  arse  to  ass  can be traced to 1785 (in euphemistic avoidance of  ass  "donkey" by polite speakers) and perhaps to Shakespeare, if Nick  Bottom  transformed into a donkey in "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (1594) is the word-play some think it is. Meaning "woman regarded as a sexual object" is from 1942. Colloquial  (one's) ass  "one's self, one's person" attested by 1958.