by Jordan Redman Staff Wrer Do you know what the word gay really means? The word gay dat back to the 12th century and om the Old French “gai,” meang “full of joy or mirth.” It may also relate to the Old High German “gahi,” meang impulsive.
Contents:
- THE ORIGS OF THE WORD ‘GAY’
- GAY (ADJ.)
- THE HISTORY OF THE WORD “GAY”
- GAY HISTORY: HOW ‘GAY’ CAME TO MEAN ‘HOMOSEXUAL’
- WHAT WAS A GAY PERSON LLED 17TH CENTURY?
- HOW GAY CULTURE BLOSSOMED DURG THE ROARG TWENTI
- MOLLY, GAY, TRANSSEXUAL, TRANSGENR: LGBT WORDS TRANSN, TOO
THE ORIGS OF THE WORD ‘GAY’
GAY Meang: "full of joy, merry; light-hearted, reee;" also "wanton, lewd, lasciv" (late 12c. as a surname,… See orig and meang of gay. * gay 17th century meaning *
It’s Pri Month and one of the most lourful words the English language – wh more makeovers than Madonna and more dramatic life stori than Liza Mnelli – is the word ‘gay’! Like every hero, ‘gay’ has an orig story, but even today, scholars are disagreement over the precise journey took to reach the level of fame (or famy) mands nowadays. Sometime between the 11th and late 15th centuri, ‘gai’ crossed the English Channel and end up as ‘gay’, but kept s French meangs – ‘cheerful’, ‘happy’, ‘merry’, and ‘lively’.
GAY (ADJ.)
* gay 17th century meaning *
By the 1970s, the term ‘gay man’ had bee firmly entrenched s current meang, referrg only to ‘homosexual men’, which was a far cry om jt a hundred years earlier, when meant ‘womaniser’ or ‘sexually unhibed man’. ’ This age is found most often among younger mal North Ameri/the UK and rearch shows that young men wh iends the LGBTQ+ muny e the word ‘gay’ a much ls pejorative way than those whout. 240]The associatn wh (male) homosexualy likely got a boost om the term gay t, ed as far back as 1893 Amerin English for "young hobo, " one who is new on the road, also one who sometim do jobs.
THE HISTORY OF THE WORD “GAY”
The word “gay” seems to have s origs around the 12th century England, rived om the Old French word ‘gai’, which turn was probably rived om a Germanic word, though that isn’t pletely known. The word’s origal meang meant somethg to the effect of “joyful”, “reee”, “full of mirth”, or “bright and showy”.… * gay 17th century meaning *
Gay ts were severely and celly abed by "real" tramps and bums, who nsired them "an ferr orr of begs who begs of and otherwise preys upon the bum — as were a jackal followg up the kg of beasts" [Prof. McCook, "Tramps, " "The Public Treatment of Pperism, " 1893], but some acunts report certa olr tramps would domate a gay t and employ him as a sort of slave. In "Soclogy and Social Rearch" (1932-33) a paragraph on the "gay t" phenomenon not, "Homosexual practic are more mon than rare this group, " and gey t "homosexual boy" is attted Noel Erske's 1933 dictnary of "Unrworld & Prison Slang" (gey is a Sttish variant of gay) "Dictnary of Amerin Slang" reports that gay (adj.
GAY HISTORY: HOW ‘GAY’ CAME TO MEAN ‘HOMOSEXUAL’
Durg Prohibn, gay nightlife and culture reached new heights—at least temporarily. * gay 17th century meaning *
In the 1890s, the term “gey t” (a Sttish variant of gay) was ed to scribe a vagrant who offered sexual servic to women or a young traveler who was new to the road and the pany of an olr man.
WHAT WAS A GAY PERSON LLED 17TH CENTURY?
In 1951, gay appeared the Oxford English Dictnary for the first time as slang for homosexual, but was most likely ed this way “unrground” at least 30 years earlier.
HOW GAY CULTURE BLOSSOMED DURG THE ROARG TWENTI
” This le (ad-libbed by Grant) n be terpreted to mean that he was behavg a happy-go-lucky or lighthearted way but is accepted by many as the first e of gay to mean homosexual a mastream movie. When gay is ed today to mean stupid or unsirable ( has only been ed this way sce the 1990s), rri wh a history of negative judgment and rigid ias about who or what is acceptable.
The word “gay” seems to have s origs around the 12th century England, rived om the Old French word ‘gai’, which turn was probably rived om a Germanic word, though that isn’t pletely known. Fast-forward to the 19th century and the word gay referred to a woman who was a prostute and a gay man was someone who slept wh a lot of women (ironilly enough), often prostut. In terms of the sexual meang of the word, a “gay man” no longer jt meant a man who had sex wh a lot of women, but now started to refer to men who had sex wh other men.
MOLLY, GAY, TRANSSEXUAL, TRANSGENR: LGBT WORDS TRANSN, TOO
Gay men themselv seem to have been behd the drivg thst for this new fn as they felt (and many still do), that “homosexual” is much too clil, soundg like a disorr. As such, was mon amongst the gay muny to refer to one another as “gay” s before this was a monly known fn (reportedly homosexual men were llg one another gay as early as the 1920s). Sce then, gay, meang homosexual male, has steadily driven out all the other fns that have floated about through time and of urse also has gradually begun supplementg the word ‘lbian’ as referrg to women who are homosexual.
Bee even mentng someone was a homosexual was so offensive at the time England, people who were thought to be gay were referred to as “sporty” wh girls and “artistic” for boys.