"Gay" in 1713

[Alison Murie]

On Jul 8, 2010, at 11:42 AM, Laurence Horn wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: "Gay" in 1713
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>
> At 10:55 AM -0400 7/8/10, Joel S. Berson wrote:
>> This is presumably a looong stretch, but ---
>>
>> From The Tatler and Guardian, 1713 April 3 (no. 20), page 32, col. 2
>> {GB full view]:
>>
>> All gallantry and fashion, one would imagine, should rise out of the
>> religion and laws of that nation wherein they prevail; but alas! in
>> this kingdom, gay characters, and those which lead in the pleasure
>> and fascinations of the fashionable world, are such as are readiest
>> to practise crimes the most abhorrent to nature, and contradictory to
>> our faith.
>>
>> At that time, "crimes the most abhorrent to nature" were sexual acts
>> which could not lead to conception, thus including sodomy,
>> bestiality, and masturbation (as well as intercourse with a girl too
>> young to conceive, defined in some laws as age 10).
>
> There's a long history of "gay", through the 19th c., being used to
> describe dissipation or prostitutes ("gay girl/woman") and their
> life.  Or more broadly, as in Farmer & Henley (1890-1904):
>
> GAY
> (colloquial)
> 1.  dissipated; specifically, given to venery
>
> cites back to Chaucer "Some gay girl...Hath brought you thus upon the
> very trot"
>
> 1754 Adventurer, No. 124  The old gentleman, whose character I cannot
> better express than in the fashionable phrase which has been
> contrived to palliate false principles and dissolute manners, had
> been a gay man, and was well acquainted with the town.
>
> [also GAYING INSTRUMENT = 'the penis']
>
> No direct antecedent of 'homosexual' meaning, except sub specie of
> "unacceptable lifestyle choices"...
>
> LH
>
>> Is this some kind of antecedent to "gay" = 'homosexual"?  (In the
>> above, "characters" means "persons".)  On the other hand, the OED
>> cautions me:
>>
>> "A number of quotations have been suggested as early attestations of
>> this sense (see a sample below). It is likely that, although there
>> may be innuendo in some cases, these have been interpreted
>> anachronistically in the light either of the context (for example the
>> disguise as a homosexual of the protagonist of quot. 1941[1]), or of
>> knowledge about an author's sexuality."
>>
>> Joel
~~~~~~~~~~~
Tom & Huck use "gay" often in anticipation of some proposed
adventure.  In their dialect it has no sexual overtones, but seems to
mean exciting, "grand", "bully," definitely approving.
AM

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