Q: Possible 1727 "queen" = male homosexual?

[Joel S. Berson]

I understand; what I was wondering is if it rates a [1726].  There
seems to be a allusion to royalty shared by the nickname "Queen" as
in the quotation and the OED's ["1893 Alienist & Neurologist 14 732
Standing or *seated on a pedestal*, but accessible to all the rest,
is the naked queen (a male) whose phallic member..is subject to the
gaze and osculations in turn, of all the members of this lecherous
gang of sexual perverts.]"

I also wonder if "Queen" became frequent -- even if just as the
nickname -- in the 1720s and 1730s, which (I read) was when the
"molly houses" arose in London.  (I've asked Rictor Norton.)

Joel

At 7/11/2010 08:53 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>Conceptually related, obviously, even an adumbration, but not an ex. of the
>current use.  A nickname doesn't necessarily double as a common noun .
>Cf.: During the 1920s, American college men often referred casually to
>attractive women as "queens."  But Queen Latifah's (stage) name (decades
>later rather than centuries earlier, as is Joel's ex.) doesn't exemplify the
>slang term.
>
>The homosexual sense of "queen" is also first clearly documented in the
>1920s.
>
>JL
>
>
>On Sat, Jul 10, 2010 at 11:13 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> > Subject:      Q:  Possible 1727 "queen" = male homosexual?
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > Is the following an introduction in 1727 of the word "queen" to refer
> > to "A male homosexual, typically one regarded as ostentatiously
> > effeminate"?
> >
> > Boston Gazette, 1727 Jan 2-9, p. 1, col. 2.  [EAN]
> >
> > London, October 20.
> > Yesterday at Guildhall, at the Sessions of Oyer and Terminer held by
> > Adjournment from the Old-Baily, one Thomas Coleman and John Irons
> > alias Hihon (who used to go among the Sodomites by the Name of Queen
> > Irons) were severally tryed and convicted for an Assault with an
> > Intent to commit Sodomy ...
> >
> > [The immediately following item in the BG is about the trial of a
> > husband and wife for "keeping a disorderly House in entertaining
> > Sodomites, and knowingly permitting them to commit the detestable Sin
> > of Sodomy."]
> >
> > Rictor Norton, at http://rictornorton.co.uk/eighteen/1726news.htm,
> > has from The Weekly Journal: or, The British Gazetteer, 22 October
> > 1726: "[Last Monday] at Guildhall, at the Sessions of Oyer and
> > Terminer held by Adjournment from the Old-Baily, one Thomas Coleman,
> > and John Irons alias Hihon [according to The British Journal, William
> > Coleman and John Hyons] (who used to go among the Sodomites by the
> > Name of Queen Irons) were severally tryed and convicted for an
> > Assault with Intent to commit Sodomy ..."
> >
> > See also _Who's who in gay and lesbian history: from antiquity to
> > World War II_, Volume 1,  ed. Robert Aldrich, Garry Wotherspoon (2002
> > [and/or 2001?]), p. 117, for "mollies" adopting feminine
> > names.   [Google Books, Preview.]
> >
> > Joel
> >
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> >
>
>
>
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