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From: peduto@pyuxv.UUCP (S A Peduto)
Newsgroups: net.motss
Subject: Re: gay?? really??
Message-ID: <585@pyuxv.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 16-Aug-84 13:34:35 EDT
Article-I.D.: pyuxv.585
Posted: Thu Aug 16 13:34:35 1984
Date-Received: Fri, 17-Aug-84 07:28:01 EDT
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Organization: Bell Communications Research, Piscataway N.J.
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The Farmer and Henly reference I gave earlier
on this issue traces the word Gay to a French 
criminal's phrase which meant -- "to use 
a man's penis".  I don't have F&H here at 
the office, so I can't quote exactly, but
the reference is Farmer and Henley,
A Dictionary of Slang and its Analogues,
reprinted by Arno Press, a division of
Times Books.

The usage is at least as old as the mid-
19th century, and probably dates from
the late 18th.

I'm told Boswell dates it from the Middle
Ages.