bung-hole

also bunghole, "hole in a cask through which is it filled, closed by a stopper," 1570s, from bung (n.) + hole (n.). Sense extended to "anus" by c. 1600.

"by c. 1600" means the first known written use was in ~1600. I wonder how fast the spoken use took. Months? It would have been the hot meme of the 1570s. I can imagine this convo in a pub.

"Guys, guys, guys. I was talking to the publican and I learned a new word. Bung means stopper, right? And hole - you know that one. What do you think bunghole means?"

2nd guy: "Dunno."

3rd guy: "Already know that. The stopper for a barrel. So?"

"How 'bout your anus?"

[–] LocalMaxima@hexbear.net 8 points 2 days ago (1 children)

butthole (n.) also butt-hole, "anus," 1950s slang, from butt (n.6) + hole (n.). Earlier it meant "blind hole; cul-de-sac" (early 20c.).

butthole is surprisingly much later

[–] InevitableSwing@hexbear.net 5 points 2 days ago (1 children)

1950s slang

From a dictionary.

butt 3

3 mainly The buttocks or anus:

There are no dates. I googled but I only found this very annoying article where the writer speaks in circles

The Grammarphobia Blog: Is 'butt' short for 'buttock'?

The OED’s earliest US example for “butt” used to mean the hindquarters is from John Russell Bartlett’s Dictionary of Americanisms (1859), which defines it this way: “The buttocks. The word is used in the West in such phrases as, ‘I fell on my butt,’ ‘He kick’d my butt.’ ”

Maybe butthole was a slang term in the late 1800s but it was only a spoken form for many decades after that until some intrepid pioneer had the audacity to put it in print.

[–] LocalMaxima@hexbear.net 4 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Yeah I searched to find an example in print. Most results were “but thoſe” mistranscribed. In the early 1900s I found butt hole used as a mining term (digging a butt hole in rock then stuffing it with explosives)

[–] InevitableSwing@hexbear.net 2 points 1 day ago

digging a butt hole in rock then stuffing it with explosives

That sounds like a line in Loser that Beck sneaks in when he plays it live.

[–] Evilsandwichman@hexbear.net 7 points 2 days ago

"How 'bout your anus?"

"The planet?"