Because even mentioning someone was a homosexual was so offensive at the time in England, people who were thought to be gay were referred to as “sporty” with girls and “artistic” for boys.
Bringing Up Baby in 1938 was the first film to use the word gay to mean homosexual. A prostitute might have been described as a “gay woman” and a womanizer as a “gay man.”“Gay house” was commonly used to refer to a brothel and, later, “gaiety” was used as a common name for certain places of entertainment.
In the 1890s, the term “gey cat” (a Scottish variant of gay) was used to describe a vagrant who offered sexual services to women or a young traveler who was new to the road and in the company of an older man.
This latter use suggests that the younger man was in a sexually submissive role and may be among the first times that gay was used implying a homosexual relationship.
In 1951, gay appeared in the Oxford English Dictionary for the first time as slang for homosexual, but was most likely used in this way “underground” at least 30 years earlier.
For example, in the 1938 film, Bringing Up Baby, Cary Grant dons a feathery robe when his clothes are sent to the cleaners and says, “...I just went gay.” This line (ad-libbed by Grant) can be interpreted to mean that he was behaving in a happy-go-lucky or lighthearted way but is accepted by many as the first use of gay to mean homosexual in a mainstream movie.
Today, gay is a socially acceptable term for homosexual people.
In Middle English it meant "excellent person, noble lady, gallant knight," also "something gay or bright; an ornament or badge" (c.
The word ‘Gay’ was perfect to describe what many would also call ‘an artistic young man’
The widespread public connotation of ‘gay’ as meaning homosexual was not felt by the general populace until the 1950s at least.
The ultimate origin is disputed; perhaps from Frankish *gahi (related to Old High German wahi "pretty"), though not all etymologists accept this.
The meaning "stately and beautiful; splendid and showily dressed" is from early 14c. As such, it was common amongst the gay community to refer to one another as “gay” decades before this was a commonly known definition (reportedly homosexual men were calling one another gay as early as the 1920s).
But already in dictionaries its entry is reading as ‘1. Some people argue that this isn’t connected to its meaning of homosexual.
They, it would seem, are idiots. Rawson ["Wicked Words"] notes a male prostitute using gay in reference to male homosexuals (but also to female prostitutes) in London's notorious Cleveland Street Scandal of 1889.
homosexual, 2. Its use has developed throughout the twentieth century to become a general description of, and reference to, all aspects of modern homosexual culture in the Western world.
The phrase ‘I am gay’ can, even now, still be the most intimidating three words for a young man to have to say to his family; not many people are going to come out spurting ‘I am homosexual’ at the dinner table.
Gay in the 12th century
But the word ‘gay’ itself has a long and interesting history through the English language.
At the time, mainstream audiences didn’t get the reference so the line was thought popularly to have meant something to the effect of “I just decided to be carefree.”
by Jordan Redman
Staff Writer
Do you know what the word gay really means?
The word gay dates back to the 12th century and comes from the Old French “gai,” meaning “full of joy or mirth.” It may also relate to the Old High German “gahi,” meaning impulsive.
For centuries, gay was used commonly in speech and literature to mean happy, carefree, bright and showy, and did not take on any sexual meaning until the 1600s.
At that time the meaning of gay as carefree evolved to imply that a person was unrestrained by morals and prone to decadence and promiscuity.
It still keeps its definition as meaning something to the effect of “festive”.
Male homosexuality was illegal in Britain until the Sexual Offenses Act of 1967.