Faggot epithet: Encyclopedia II - Faggot epithet - Etymology

Faggot epithet - Etymology

The origins of the word in this sense have been clouded by mythology.

Faggot epithet - Bundle of sticks

It has been frequently said that the pejorative use of the word derives from "faggot" in the sense of a bundle of sticks, because homosexual men were burned at the stake for sodomy and faggots were used as kindling.

There is, however, no historical evidence for these supposed derivations, and the use of the term "faggot" for gay men goes back only to the 19th century. The fact that this use appeared in the United States—where no one is known to have been burned at the stake for sodomy—but not in Britain, where men were burned at the stake for buggery until the 17th century (though the more common punishment was hanging), makes this derivation seem highly unlikely.

Faggot epithet - Bibilcal Allusion

The term "faggot" as a term denoting a bundle of sticks also alludes to a Biblical reference, which states that homosexuals are like kindling for the fires of hell. Therefore, the term could stem from this allusion.

Faggot epithet - Prostitution

It is more likely this use of faggot was originally a derogatory term for street prostitutes, female and male, because they were associated with "the gutter", where "faggot-ends" of meat were thrown by butchers. The term "faggot girls" for prostitutes is attested from the late 19th century. Often perceived still as gender traitors, homosexual men are still often spoken of as "girls," and there were probably a number of male prostitutes at the same time refered to as "faggot boys". In either case, it would be a short leap from "faggot girl" meaning "prostitute" to "faggot" meaning "sodomite"—probably starting with male prostitutes who tend to serve primarily or exclusively male customers.

Faggot epithet - British slang

The word faggot does have a native slang meaning in Britain where it commonly denotes a silly or foolish person—someone who is "as a dumb as a bundle of sticks." In the pilot episode of the Britcom In Loving Memory from Yorkshire Television, undertaker Jeremiah Unsworth is taken under by an accident. After the funeral, widow Ivy receives the condolences of her old friend Amy Jenkins, who says, "He heard the call. He answered it. And he fell in the line of duty. No man can ask for a better epitaph than that." Ivy thanks her, says good-bye, and then turns to her nephew, Billy, as soon as the door is shut and says in reference to Amy, "Silly old faggot! 'He heard the call?' 'He answered it?' The only call your Uncle Jeremiah ever heard was, 'Time, Gentlemen, please!'."

However, fag or faggot has also become understood as an Americanism in British English, primarily due to its use in films and television series imported from the United States.

"Fag" was also a term used for a junior boy who acted as a servant for a senior boy at Eton College, near Eton, Berkshire, and other British public schools. This practice, known as "fagging", was ended in the 1970s.

Faggot epithet - Cigarettes

Some have suggested that use of the term fag to mean a cigarette, often thrown into the gutter after it is smoked outdoors, contributed to the American slang use—especially as "fag" is an obvious truncation of "faggot," and cigarette smoking was considered an effeminate behaviour until it was made affordable to the working class. But this is not very likely because Americans, unlike Britons, have almost never referred to cigarettes as "fags". This is not to say that Britons have never used "fag" to refer to "cigarette". In the BBC series "Absolutely Fabulous", Edina was surprised to see her daughter, Saffron, using their counter-top range. Saffron explained that the stove-top range could be used for cooking, and that the only thing she'd ever seen her mother use the range for was to "light your fags." A military marching song popular with the British army during the First World War featured the line "while there's a Lucifer (matchstick) to light your fag...". This is only one example of linguistic evidence of the word fag pre-dating the rise of the gay movement in the West.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Etymology", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki