Antedating of "Transvestite"

[Baker, John]

The book in question would be Hirschfeld's 1910 work, Die Transvestiten, later translated from German into English as Transvestites:  The Erotic Drive to Cross-Dress. This or another reference to Hirschfeld's work presumably is the earliest use of "transvestite" in English.


John Baker


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From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of Shapiro, Fred
Sent: Saturday, December 21, 2013 10:18 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Antedating of "Transvestite"

transvestite (OED 1922)

1911 _Current Literature_ Nov. 550 (JSTOR)  There are some who ... point to the degeneracy of Rome under Heliogabalus, an emperor who preferred to wear the habiliments of the opposite sex.  Recently Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld, the psychopathic authority, devoted an entire book to the question of persons similarly inclined, whom he calls "transvestites."

Fred Shapiro

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