"puss" in Icelandic ? Swedish ?

[Douglas G. Wilson]

>Jakob Serenius's monumental English, Swedish & Latin Dictionary (ed. 2)
>of  1757 includes a bottom of the page entry "PUSS, _pudendum muliebre_."
>
>It is not absolutely clear to me whether this word is supposed to be
>Swedish, English, or even Icelandic, though the last seems most likely.
>The Net is no help. Anybody with native fluency in 18th C. Scandinavian
>languages should be able to answer this one.
>
>If it *is* Icelandic, or even Swedish, it would tend to support
>Merriam-Webster's suggestion that English "puss / pussy" really is
>etymologically distinct from Eng. "pussy," hare or cat.
>
>The word is used sexually in English as early as 1699.

On-line dictionaries show "púss" = "pouch"/ "small bag" in Old Icelandic
and a similar word in 'Altnordisch' (same as Old Norse?). I suppose this is
cognate with English "purse". The vowel is, I think, distinct from "u"
FWIW. Relevant? I don't know.

One on-line dictionary shows modern Icelandic "pussa" = "vulva". This is
surely the right word but I think there's been plenty of time for adoption
from English.

The big Swedish Academy dictionary on-line shows only the routine "puss" =
"kiss" and "puss" = "puddle" etc. and "puss" as a variant of "puts" =
"prank" (if I'm reading it right). I doubt that these are germane.

-- Doug Wilson