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The Etymology of Breasts
When thinking about slang words for breasts, I became interested in the etymology of these terms, and decided to undertake a mini linguistic study of breast-related vocabulary. With the help of the Merriam-Webster's online dictionary, this is what I came up with:
Breast
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English brest, from Old English brEost; akin to Old High German brust breast, Old Irish brú
belly, Russian bryukho
Date: before 12th century
Bos·om
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English bOsm; akin to Old High German buosam bosom
Date: before 12th century
Tit
Function: noun (slang)
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English - see teat
Date: before 12th century
Teat
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English tete, from Old French, of Germanic origin; akin to Old English tit teat, Middle High German
zitze
Date: 13th century
Nip·ple
Function: noun
Etymology: earlier neble, nible, probably diminutive of neb, nib
Date: 1530
Boobs, Boo·bies
Function: noun
Etymology: modification of Spanish bobo, from Latin balbus stammering, probably of imitative origin
Date: circa 1603
Bras·siere
Function: noun
Etymology: obsolete French brassière bodice, from Old French braciere arm protector, from bras arm
Date: 1911
This page may well expand in the future, if and when I find some more etymology resources to further explore the slang terms for breasts.