Puncke

*I had often heard that the slang term "punk" began its life four hundred long years ago as a synonym for "prostitute." But according to the lowlife poet Samuel Rowlands here, the word is actually spelled "puncke."

I had never heard of a "puncke." It seems interesting. Was it even pronounced "punk" at the time, one wonders?
As for Rowlands, his book of sleazy "epigrams" was burned not long after it was published.