Fwd: origins of "faggot"

[Jan Ivarsson TransEdit]

Both in French and German the word "tante", aunt, is often used for a male homosexual - fairly close to "faggot".
Bornemann, Sex im Volksmund, has no word resembling "faygele" among hundreds of words for homosexuals or homosexuality, except of course the normal use of "voegeln" for sexual intercourse.
Jan Ivarsson
jan.ivarsson at transedit.st

----- Original Message -----
From: "Douglas G. Wilson" <douglas at NB.NET>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Monday, April 09, 2001 3:40 PM
Subject: Re: Fwd: origins of "faggot"


> 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