Etymology of "broad" = [approx.] "gal"

[Stephen Goranson]

Quoting Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU>:

> On Thu, Jun 26, 2008 at 12:27 PM, Marc Velasco
> <marcjvelasco at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Apparently, someone has a cite from 1911.
>>
>> (http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=3D20070122004119AAuYj2T)
>>
>> > The general sense of broad meaning a woman, as opposed to the specific one
>> > of prostitute, is cited from 1911, from the September issue of Hampton's
>> > Magazine:
>> >
>> > Pretty soon what is technically known as a "broad" -- broad" being
>> the latest
>> > New Yorkese -- hove into sight.
>
> In: "A Night at the Folies Bergere" by Harris Merton Lyon
> Hampton's Magazine (Vol. XXVII, No. 2, Aug 1911), p. 172
>
> Google Book Search has a very nice scan:
> http://books.google.com/books?id=wvhMAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA172
>
>
> --Ben Zimmer

I'm not saying it's necessarily relevant, but the magazine was formerly
known as
Hampton's Broadway Magazine.

Stephen Goranson
http://www.duke.edu/~goranson

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