Historical Dictionary of the Term "Gay"

[Fred Shapiro]

I found an extremely interesting article that I thought some on this list would
want to know about.  It is entitled "'Gay's the Word': A History of _Gay_ in
Dictionary Form," and appears in a book, Gay and Lesbian Perspectives III:
Essays in Australian Culture" (1996).  The author, Gary Simes, presents
extremely thorough OED-type entries for _gay_ and related terms.  He often goes
substantially beyond the OED and HDAS in his evidence.

Of greatest interest are early citations for _gay_ 'homosexual.'  The generally
accepted earliest documented clearcut usages for this sense are the film
Bringing Up Baby (1938) and a 1941 glossary by Gershon Legman (although Ron
Butters has argued that the Bringing Up Baby usage is not clearcut).  Simes'
early citations include the following (some of which I think are probably
usages in a general sense rather than the specific
sense of "homosexual," but Simes has seen more context for these than I have):


Of behavior, mannerisms, feelings, events, social circles, &c.
1922-26 S. Kahn _Mentality & Homosexuality_ viii.128  'Homosexuals use drugs in
order to make them gay and womanish, give them courage, remove self control and
sometimes increase the passions.'
1922 G. Stein  [quote in HDAS in square brackets]
1925 R. McAlmon _Distinguished Air_ 140  But of course she had been driven by
the madness of her boredom from Monte Carlo, where every morning after a
so-called gay party she had been suffocated with a detestation of inanities.
1927 M. West _The Drag_ iii.4  I don't care. I had a gay time.
1929 N. Coward _Bitter Sweet_ iii.104  Faded boys, jaded boys, come what may,
Art is our inspiration, And we are the reason for the 'Nineties' being gay, We
all wear a green carnation.
1929 Bing Crosby 'Gay Love' (song)  I may seem proud And I may act gay; It's
just a pose. I'm not that way.
1932 N. Coward _Words and Music_ in _Lyrics_ (1983) 132  Mad about the boy, /
It's pretty funny but I'm mad about the boy, / He has a gay appeal; / That
makes me feel / There's something sad about the boy.
1932 'R. Scully' _A Scarlet Pansy_ xxxviii.333  The Englishman drank quite too
much brandy and became proportionately gay; it takes alcohol to make them
forget their inhibitions.
1933 Ford & Tyler  [quote in HDAS]
1934 L. Levenson _Butterfly Man- xxiv.281  'I can afford to be gay,' Ken told
Jules Monroe.  'I've got nothing to lose. I'm ready for heaven or hell or
both.'
1938 W. Plomer _Dorking Thigh_ (1945) 15  He prances forward with his hands
outspread / And folds all comers in a gay embrace.

Spec. of persons and their sexual orientation.
1932 'R. Scully' _A Scarlet Pansy_ xxv.213  There were Fay and Whitey and
Linberg and four or five more gay young things that fluttered as they walked
along.
1933 R. Chandler in _Black Mask Boys_ ed. W. F. Nolan (1985) 261  That gay
caballero here forgot to thumb back his safety.

In the phr. _go, turn, come gay_, to (begin to) behave in an obviously or
flagrantly homosexual manner, to 'come out'; to cease hiding one's
homosexuality, to accept one's homosexuality and enter gay life.
1934 L. Levenson _Butterfly Man_ xvii.181  'I'm through with what he calls
lyric love and emotional orgasms.'  'Meaning what?'  'I'm going gay.'
1938 _Bringing Up Baby_ (film)  No! I've just gone gay ... all of a sudden.

Of places: frequented by, catering to, homosexuals; of cities: having a large
and evident homosexual population or a well-developed infrastructure of
facilities catering to homosexuals.
1925 R. McAlmon _Distinguished Air_ 137  Why had people told her Berlin was
gay?  Already she hated the place.
1932 'R. Scully' _A Scarlet Pansy_ xvi.119  It was shortly after this that Fay
and Henri began to habituate the gay Bohemian places of the town.


I have e-mailed Simes, and he tells me he is working on an historical
dictionary of sexual language in English since 1800.  He already has 200,000
citations collected.  Based on the excerpt for "gay," it appears that his book
is something to look forward to.

Fred Shapiro


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Fred R. Shapiro                             Editor
Associate Librarian for Collections and     YALE DICTIONARY
OF
  Access and Lecturer in Legal Research     QUOTATIONS
Yale Law School                             Yale University Press,
e-mail: fred.shapiro at yale.edu               forthcoming
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