Gay name meaning

by Jordan Redman
Staff Writer 

Do you comprehend what the pos 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 content, carefree, bright and showy, and did not take on any sexual essence until the 1600s.

At that time the meaning of male lover as carefree evolved to imply that a person was unrestrained by morals and prone to decadence and promiscuity. 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 youthful 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 under control role and may be among the first times that gay was used implying a queer relationship.

In 1951, queer appeared in the