"puss" in Icelandic ? Swedish ?

[Douglas G. Wilson]

>>But we have no record that they did. (The word's absence from
>>Burns's uncensored _Merry Muses_ is especially significant.)
>
>as just noted (I'm going through my "fud" files), it is present--at
>least once--in Burns's "Jolly Beggars", with the 'pubic hair' sense

Is the "pubic hair" sense here? F&H apparently thought so, but they ignored
the "arse" sense entirely.

The SND has this same citation under the "arse" sense. [SND does have the
"pubic hair" sense also (female).]

Offhand I find the "arse" interpretation more natural myself: I would think
"He scarcely has enough clothing to cover his arse" would be more natural
than "... to cover his pubic hair". Of course Burns may have had a
different opinion ... are there other examples from back then of comparable
figures of speech involving [male] pubic hair?

-- Doug Wilson