Gay (word)

In modern usage, gay is a term used to describe men that form romantic relationships or have sexual activity with other men. It may also be used to refer to men that are attracted to other men, romantically or sexually, whether such feelings are acted upon or not. The word is also sometimes used more inclusively to refer to the collective grouping of GLBT.

The ancient origins of "gay" are uncertain, with some etymologists tracing it to the Old High German gâhi ("swift"), though recent research supports wâhi ("pretty") as a more likely source. The Oxford English Dictionary (2nd edition) also notes that "The sense ‘slack, not closely fitting’, which exists in all the Romance languages (though not recorded very early in any of them) may possibly be of etymological significance."

Its oldest English meaning, attested as early as 1310, is "disposed to joy and mirth", and was in widespread use through the closing decades of the 20th Century. Standard English-language dictionaries still gave synonyms of "happy" and "merry" as the primary meaning of the word gay right up till the last decade of the 20th Century. Its use in reference to homosexuality is not recorded until 1935, when the word "geycat" was cited as prison slang for a homosexual boy; the independent form "gay" first appears in 1951. Stemming from these latter usages, the term 'gay' has been applied in mainstream culture to refer to male homosexuals, whose widespread use of the word "gay" self-referentially during the gay movement, may have accounted for the relatively rapid change in the popular understanding of the word.

The English word "gay" is also a close relative of the Middle French and Provençal words gaya and gai, meaning, roughly, "joyful." Occitanian poets defined their poetic craft as lo gai saber, or the "joyful knowledge," and the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche borrowed this phrase for his book, Das Fröliche Wissenschaft, often translated as "The Gay Science."

Related topics

• Gay community
• GLBT
• Lesbian
• Stonewall riots