GAY Meang: "full of joy, merry; light-hearted, reee;" also "wanton, lewd, lasciv" (late 12c. as a surname,… See orig and meang of gay.
Contents:
- GAY (ADJ.)
- THE ORIGS OF THE WORD ‘GAY’
- TAG: GAY
- DO THE WORD FASCIST SHARE A ROOT WH THE ANTI-GAY SLUR F****T?
GAY (ADJ.)
* the root of the word gay *
Gay (adj.
THE ORIGS OF THE WORD ‘GAY’
by Anatoly Liberman The qutn about the orig of gay “homosexual” has been asked and answered many tim (and always rrectly), so that we needn’t expect sensatnal disveri this area. The adjective gay, first attted Middle English, is of French scent; the fourteenth century meant both “joyo” and “bright; showy.” The OED giv no atttatns of gay “immoral” before 1637. * the root 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.
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.
TAG: GAY
) 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.
DO THE WORD FASCIST SHARE A ROOT WH THE ANTI-GAY SLUR F****T?
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'?