[PW] First appearance of 'gay'

[Newton Steve (DOS)]

Carol,

Cecil Adams at the Straight Dope addressed this back in 1986.  I don't
know how well his research holds up.

http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_271b.html

Steve Newton
Delaware Division of Libraries

-----Original Message-----
From: project-wombat-open-bounces at lists.project-wombat.org
[mailto:project-wombat-open-bounces at lists.project-wombat.org] On Behalf
Of Carol Fuller
Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2007 12:09 PM
To: list at project-wombat.org
Subject: [PW] First appearance of 'gay'

There was an interesting question that came through yesterday. The
patron wanted to know when the term 'gay' in a homosexual context first
appeared in a mainstream dictionary. We found it mentioned in OED and
other sources as to when it was used in publications; but, we could not
find a first sighting as a regular definition.
Any ideas?

Carol S. Fuller
Librarian I
Humanities, Fine Arts & Recreation
Columbus Metropolitan Library
cfuller at columbuslibrary.org

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