The history of the word “gay” | The Gayly

the etymology of the word gay

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.

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GAY (ADJ.)

GAY Meang: "full of joy, merry; light-hearted, reee;" also "wanton, lewd, lasciv" (late 12c. as a surname,… See orig and meang of gay. * the etymology of the word gay *

Gay (adj.

THE HISTORY OF THE WORD “GAY”

As a surname, Philipp Gay), om Old French gai "joyful, happy; pleasant, agreeably charmg; forward, pert; light-lored" (12c. ; pare Old Spanish gayo, Portugue ga, Italian gajo, probably French loan-words). )) word gay by the 1890s had an overall tge of promiscuy — a gay hoe was a brothel.

WHEN DID "GAY" BEE ASSOCIATED WH HOMOSEXUALY? [DUPLITE]

The suggtn of immoraly the word n be traced back at least to the 1630s, if not to Chcer:But oure bed he was so sh and gay. Whan that he wol han my bele slang meang "homosexual" (adj.

) begs to appear psychologil wrg the late 1940s, evintly picked up om gay slang and not always easily distguished om the olr sense:After discharge A. He was not happy at the farm and went to a Wtern cy where he associated wh a homosexual crowd, beg "gay, " and wearg female cloth and makp. 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.

"A Gay Cat, " said he, "is a loafg laborer, who works maybe a week, gets his wag and vagabonds about huntg for another 'pick and shovel' job. Do you want to know where they got their moni (nickname) 'Gay Cat'? See, Kid, ts sneak about and scratch immediately after chummg wh you and then get gay (h).

*BEAR-MAGAZINE.COM* THE ETYMOLOGY OF THE WORD GAY

How ‘Gay’ Came to Mean ‘Homosexual’ .

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