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Faggot: "All The

The document discusses the origins and history of the terms "faggot" and "fairy" as slurs used against homosexual men. It traces the terms back to their Germanic roots and explains how their meanings evolved over time. Specifically, it debunks the myth that "faggot" refers to burning witches, showing it actually derives from old terms for "bundle" and "obese animal." It also explores how "fairy" came to denote effeminate homosexual men in early 20th century America.

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Samuel Le
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53 views2 pages

Faggot: "All The

The document discusses the origins and history of the terms "faggot" and "fairy" as slurs used against homosexual men. It traces the terms back to their Germanic roots and explains how their meanings evolved over time. Specifically, it debunks the myth that "faggot" refers to burning witches, showing it actually derives from old terms for "bundle" and "obese animal." It also explores how "fairy" came to denote effeminate homosexual men in early 20th century America.

Uploaded by

Samuel Le
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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FAGGOT from the nineteenth century (forexample,

This contemptuous slang term in the novel Tom Brown's Schooldays) in


for male homosexual carries overtones of the sense of "public school boy who per-
effeminacy and cowardice. Inasmuch as forms menial tasks for an upperclassman."
its use is widespread and its origins usu- In American slang faggotlfag
ally misunderstood, it deserves careful usurped the semantic role of bugger in
consideration. British usage, with its connotations of
One of the most persistent myths extreme hostility and contempt bordering
that have gained a foothold in the gay on death wishes. In more recent decades it
movement is the belief that "faggot" de- has become the term of abuse par excel-
rives from the basic meaning of "bundle of lence in the mouths of heterosexuals, of-
sticks used to light afire," with the histori- ten just as an insult aimed at another
cal commentary that when witches were male's alleged want of masculinity or
burned at the stake, "only presumed male courage, rather than implying a sexualrole
homosexuals were considered low enough or orientation.
to help kindle the fires." The ultimate origin of the word is
The English word has in fact three a Germanic term represented by the Nor-
forms: faggot, attested by the Oxford Eng- wegian dialect words fagg, "bundle, heap,"
lish Dictionary from circa 1300; fudge, alongside bagge, "obese, clumsy creature"
attested from 1588;and faggald, which the (chiefly of animals). From the latter are
Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue derived such Romance words as French
first records from 1375. The first and sec- bagasse andItalian bagascia, "prostitute,"
ond forms have the additional meaning whence the parallel derivative bagascione
"fat, slovenly woman" which accordingto whose meaning matches that of American
the English Dialect Dictionary survived English faggotlfag, while Catalan bagas-
into the nineteenth century in the folk sejar signifies to faggot, "to frequent the
speech of England. company of loose women."
The homosexual sense of the The final proof that faggot cannot
term, unknown in England itself, appears have originated in the burning of witches
for the first time in America in a vocabu- at the stake is that in English law both
lary of criminal slang printed in Portland, witchcraft and buggery were punishable
Oregon in 1914, with the example "Allthe by hanging, and that in the reign of the
fagots (sissiesJwill be dressed in drag at the homosexual monarch James I the execu-
ball tonight." The apocopated (clipped] tion of heretics came to an end, so that by
form fag then arose by virtue of the ten- the time American English gave the word
dency of American colloquial speech to itsnew meaning there cannot have been in
create words of one syllable; the first the popular mind even the faintest remnant
quotation is from the book by Nels of the complex of ideas credited to the
Anderson, m e Hobo (1923): "Fairies or term in thecontemporary myth. It is purely
Fags are men or boys who exploit sex for and simply an Americanism of the twenti-
profit." The short form thus also has no eth century.
connection with British fag as attested
9 FAGGOT

Given the fact that the term fag- rest of the country, but not to other Eng-
got cannot refer to burning at the stake, lish-speaking areas of the world. In the
why does the myth continue to enjoy 1960s the word yielded to gay as a positive
popularity in the gay movement? On the term preferred by the movement, and to
conscious level it serves as a device with faggot or fag as the vulgar term of abuse.
which to attack the medieval church, by In the late 1970s a quasi-religious
extension Christianity in toto, and finally movement began on the west coast of the
I all authority. On another level, it may United States under the rubric of fairy
linger as a ,,myth of origins," a kind of spirituality. Inspired by the ideas of gay
collective masochisticritual that willingly pioneer Harry Hay, this trend emphasized
identifies the homosexual as victim. It the concept that male homosexuals who
should be evident that the word faggot and will acknowledge their difference ("fair-
the ideas that have been mistakenly asso- ies" or '[faeries") have special insights and
ciated with it serve no useful function; the gifts for interpersonal relations. It looked
sooner both are abandoned, the better. to the supposed homoerotic element in
shamanism as a prehistoric archetype.Fairy
BIBLIOGRAPHY. Warren Johansson, retreats held at remote country sites, with
"The Etymology of the Word Faggot,"
GayBmkn Bulletin, 6 (1981), 16-18, 33. neo~agmritualslseNe affirm
warren~~h~~~~~~ among t h e fairies. This movement,
combining counterculture survivals with
elements of the hermetic tradition, is part
of a larger complex of New Age religious
FAIRY phenomena that are characteristic of the
The word fairy, derived from the western United States, though they also
French fierie, the name of the mythical enjoy some following elsewhere.
realm of these supernatural beings, was
one of the commonest terms for the male
homosexual in America in the 1925-1 960 FALLA,MANUELDE
period. In an article published in Ameri- (1876-1 946)
can Journal of Psychology in 1896, "The Spanish composer. Falla ranks as
Fairies" of New York are mentioned as a a key figure in both the renovation of
secret organization whose members at- Spanish classical music and the flowering
tended coffee-klatsches; dressed in aprons of Andalusian culture in the early twenti-
and knitted, gossiped and crocheted; and eth century. His homosexuality is not
held balls in which men adopted ladies' known directly, but the circles in which
evening dress. The spellings faery and fary he moved in both Paris and Granada, his
also appear in the literature. The word friendships, style of life, and enthusiasm
designated the more stereotypical or for the Andalusian past, enthusiasm which
"obvious" sort of street homosexual, with was frequently associated in Spain with
the eemantic link supplied by the notion homosexuality, permit it to be inferred.
of the delicate and fastidious that had Falla was born in the ancient
attached itself to the expression, so that it Andalusian city of CQdiz.As his composi-
was transferred effortlessly to a dainty and tions were received with indifference in
effeminate type of male. The image of the Madrid, in 1907FallamovedtoParis,where
"fairy" in book illustration as a winged he was successful. He left that city at the
creature flittingabout the landscapeproba- outbreak of World War I, and influenced by
bly contributed to the further evolution of his librettist Gregorio Martinez Sierra,
flit as a slang term for homosexual. The author of Granada, guia emocional(l9111,
semantic development of fairyin thissense made his home in Granada from 1919 to
began on the east coast and spread to the 1939.

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