>>2760748Etymology
dumb + ass.
Etymology 1[edit]
From Middle English dumb, from Old English dumb (“silent, speechless, mute, unable to speak”), from Proto-Germanic *dumbaz (“dull, dumb”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeubʰ- (“to whisk, smoke, darken, obscure”). Cognate with Scots dumb (“dumb, silent”), North Frisian dom, domme (“dumb, stupid”), West Frisian dom (“dumb, stupid”), Dutch dom (“dumb, stupid”), German dumm (“dumb, stupid”), Swedish dum (“stupid”), Icelandic dumbur (“dumb, mute”). See also deaf.
The senses of stupid, unintellectual, and pointless developed under the influence of the German word dumm. The original meaning was "lacking the power of speech".
Variant of arse; used chiefly in North America. Ultimately from Middle English ars, ers, from Old English ærs, ears, from Proto-Germanic *arsaz (compare Old High German ars (German Arsch), Old Norse ars, Old Frisian ers), from Proto-Indo-European *h3érsos (compare Ancient Greek ὄρρος (órrhos)).
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 loss of -r- before s increasingly common in all words since the 18th century in both England and its colonies. In the USA, "dropping Rs" (non-rhotic pronunciation) was common in prestige speech until the 1860s, when the American Civil War shifted the country's centers of wealth and political power to areas with fewer cultural connections to the British elite. (See also these similar cases, some of which retained both spellings with different meanings: cuss from curse, gash from garsh, bass (“fish”) from barse, bust from burst, passel from parcel.)
