Of the Evolution of our Language (1)

Reading a poem recently, the following line caused me to pause: "And the nightingale thought, 'I have sung many songs, but never a one so gay [...]'. Here I was, staring at the words written by Lord Tennyson, wondering what he meant with that word in that context, which in turn lead me to wonder about the evolution of words in our society.

Full disclosure, this article will, in all likelihood, lead me to yet another deep rabbit hole, as I stumble across other words being used today with a totally different meaning than what they were initially set for!

Anyhow, let's get back to the word "gay", which made it to the English language in the 12th century, a gift from the French, which at the time meant "joyful", "carefree" or "bright and showy".

The word got to be associated with sexual behaviour by the late 17th century (but this evolution might have started as early as the 14th century), when "gay" took the specific meaning of "addicted to pleasures and dissipations" or "uninhibited by moral constraints", which can be seen as an extension of the original meaning of "carefree". At that time, a prostitute was a "gay woman", a womanizer was a "gay man", a brothel was a "gay house", you get the idea!

That being said the word gay was also still used at that time in its original meaning, just like it is today, one word with multiple interpretations, because without that, life would simply be boring!

The word then evolved further in the 20th century to imply a disregard for conventional sexual practices, and came to be used in relation to homosexuality. While such usage was documented as early as the 1920s, it is assumed that it was used in such manner before the 20th century. But once again, while it was one of the accepted meaning, during the same period the word gay was also used to refer to somebody uninhibited but without any implication of homosexuality, and could also be applied to women.

At the same time, because the world needs some balance, another word saw its meaning morph. The word "straight", which had long been used to express respectability and conventionality, evolved to refer to individuals with more conventional sexuality.

Don't you find it interesting that what was once a derogatory term, has now been adopted as a proud label by the homosexual community? Sometimes the meaning of words evolves in rather extraordinary ways.

I also cannot but reflect on how the meaning given to a word by its etymology, or by its creator, can come to morph as a group of people agrees amongst themselves on a new secret or subtle interpretation, one could even say in creating almost their own language, that one couldn't grasp without knowing the specificities of such society. As somebody told me once: "things have no meaning but the meaning you give them".

The last point I would like to make, is that people really makes life more difficult for themselves, as you can say "I am a gay man in a gay world" and scratch your head! In the 12th century that would have been simply translated as "I am a carefree man in a joyful world" while in the 17th century this could have been interpreted as "I am a womanizer in a world without moral constraints"... what could it mean for us in the 21st century?

Next we'll decide as a society that a chair is actually fried chicken and a papaya is what you use to sit! You'll therefore perch on a papaya to eat your chair!

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