Fwd: origins of "faggot"

[Douglas G. Wilson]

The story about burning homosexuals almost surely is bushwa (IMHO).

Farmer and Henley (1893) tell what is apparently the same story -- but with
regard to heresy/heretics ("fit to be burned") -- in their "faggot" entry,
which (!) does not include a "homosexual" sense (which apparently didn't
exist yet?) but which refers instead to a woman (like "slut" maybe).

Two possibilities:

(1) (?"Faggot" = "bundle of sticks" >) "faggot" =
"woman"/"slut"/"prostitute" > "faggot" = "effeminate man" > "faggot" =
"homosexual man" (> "fag" = "homosexual man").

(2) "Fag" = "work hard"/"tire" > "fag" = "schoolboy who does menial work
for an older student" > "fag" = "catamite" > "fag" = "homosexual man" >
"faggot" = "homosexual man".

I suppose (1) is the majority opinion. I like (2) also, IF one can explain
how "fag" crossed the Atlantic.

Then there's (Yiddish) "faygele" ... does it take the sense "homosexual
man" purely on the basis of its phonetic resemblance to "fag"/"faggot"? Or
is "birdie" or whatever used for "homosexual man" in German or elsewhere?

This topic no doubt has been thoroughly researched?

-- Doug Wilson