Why These Word Meanings Have Changed Over The Years

Though same-sex relationships have been a prominent aspect of many cultures almost since the beginning of time, there has historically been a significant taboo surrounding the phenomenon in the Western world. "From the Fourteenth Century on, Western Europe was gripped by a rabid and obsessive negative preoccupation with homosexuality as the most horrible of sins" (Boswell 262). The majority of people did not understand or accept the idea, and consequentially did not have an appropriate way of talking about it. Over the years, as various cultures identified and even implemented practices currently associated with homosexuality, there arose a need for common terminology. Until the eighteenth century, it was referred to through the practices

The meaning gay has changed tremendously over time. In the past, the term gay was not used as frequently and as freely as it is used today. The term originated from the Old French and dates back to the 1600s, “Deriving ultimately from Germanic source” (Wikipedia). The word means “Joyful, carefree, bright and showy” (Wikipedia). Gay also means to be “Addicted to social pleasure and dissipations,” as a noun “of a person:

Martha Irvine, a graduate of the University of Michigan published an article titled Queer Evolution which talked about how the word “Queer” itself has evolved into the mainstream. Originally the word’s definition was to describe something as odd or weird. Society utilized the word “Queer” as an insult to the LGBTQ community. As more sexual orientations are being discovered, “Queer” became a more accepted word in the gay community in order to make things simpler. Irvine’s essay showed that whatever word we use, can affect a person depending on the intention, and the tone of how it’s being said. Irvine’s essay is very similar to Deborah Tannen’s essay You’re Wearing That which talks about the relationship between mother and daughter and how words have established expectations for women based on their appearance and behavior. Another essay that well connects with Tannen and Irvine’s articles is a section from a book written by Michael Kimmel titled Bros Before Hos’’: The Guy Code. Kimmel talks about “The Guy Code”, rules that a man should always follow in order to be considered a real man. Words are the reason why these standards have been established for all genders and sexualities. The relationships between parents and children would be better if words were replaced, which would abolish the expectations that society has for men and women.

The word “gay” has gone through drastic changes. Traditionally, it was a positive term that meant to be “happily excited” or “jolly” (Merriam Webster, “Gay”). It was used regularly to express one’s feelings about life. Today, it has a far different meaning. Now people use the word gay to label homosexuals, those with feminine qualities, or those who do something thought to be outside of the norm for their gender. “Being gay” went from expressing someone’s happiness to describing his sexual preference. The definition of gay has changed so much that its original meaning has become archaic and lost to the times.

Bisexual. Gay. Lesbian. These are all words that in today’s society are becoming more and more common to hear. Although just a few years ago hearing these words might have shocked some and angered many, they are becoming a part of today’s norm. People are broadening their views on sexuality and the possibilities open to them. Being bisexual, gay, or lesbian is slowly becoming accepted. On television a few years ago, a comedic sitcom Ellen attempted to make gays even more accepted by casting the main character as a gay woman. Sadly, Ellen failed because viewers weren’t ready for gays to be seen in a comfortable TV setting. The idea was too new and the show was before

Languages are always changing and evolving. The English language itself is full of words from other languages.

Homosexuality: Homosexuality is sexual exchanges between members of the same sex which maybe voluntary or involuntary. Many men and women are lured into traps that are set by more experienced inmates.

Words can carry different meanings depending on the context that it is presented

Homosexuality is defined or characterized as attraction towards the same gender either male or female. It came from the Greek language, where “homo” means the same or similar, hence referring to the attraction between two beings of the same sex. Homosexuality is also referred as a clinical term. Most male homosexuals generally prefer to be called "gay men" and most homosexual women generally prefer to be called "lesbians." Homosexuality is one of the three main categories of sexual orientation, alongside bisexual and heterosexual. The longstanding consensus of the behavioral and social sciences and the health and mental health professions is that homosexuality is an example of normal and positive variation in human sexual

Let us see how prefix and suffix changes can alter the meaning of a term without changing its central meaning by keeping the root the same:

Originating all the way back to the 12th century of England, “gay” meant happy, carefree or joyful. Fast forward to the 21th century and the definition was altered to mean homosexuals and dumb

With words these days, they have many meanings. What a word means in America can mean something different in a different part of the world. Therefore, when we look at these words it is not just the definition that you find in a Dictionary, but the definition found within today’s society that also matters. Let us take Derek Sivers for instance, when he moved to Singapore he was chatting with a startup consultant from France named Benjamin. When Derek asked Ben what was the most important thing he learned, Ben responded with words and the different definitions (Sivers, D January 16, 2014).

Heterosexual is colloquially known as “straight” and it’s a person who’s sexually charmed to persons of the opposite sex. Or a person who has sexual relations with the opposite sex. (WebMD, 2016). An Austro-Hungarian journalist named Károly Mária Kertbeny coined “heterosexual” in a letter at the same time as the word “homosexual,” [in the mid-19thcentury]. To try to equalize same-sex and different-sex, he coined the words “heterosexual” and “homosexual” in a really very clever bid. His intent was to suggest that there are these two categories that were not part of a hierarchy, that they were just two different flavors of the same thing. He created these words as part of his response to a piece of Prussian legislation that made same-sex erotic

Homosexuality is sexual attraction to people of one’s own sex. The term was first used by Karl-Maria Kertbeny in a pamphlet arguing against Prussian anti-sodomy law in 1869 but it was in 1886 that Richard von Krafft-Ebing used the term homosexual and heterosexual in his book Psychopathia Sexualis that term became a widely accepted term for sexual orientation. The idea increasingly began to be understood as opposite to heterosexuality (sexual attraction exclusively to the other sex) and male homosexuality was associated to femininity and cultivated pederasty.

Homosexuality is defined as a predominant sexual attraction to persons of the same gender. For example, men being sexually attracted to other men and women being sexually attracted to other women (Exodus Global Alliance, 2017). Heterosexuality however, is the opposite of homosexuality. A heterosexual person has a sexual attraction to a person of the opposite sex, as opposed to an individual of the same sex. In Western society, heterosexuality has been constructed to be viewed as the norm, this however was not always the case. Sociologist Michel Foucault coined the term ‘homosexuality’ arguing that homosexuality was not discovered but produced. “Homosexuality appeared as one of the forms of sexuality when it was transposed from the practice of sodomy onto a kind of interior androgyny, a hermaphrodism of the soul.” Following on from the invention of the term known as homosexuality, medical doctors invented a counter-position, heterosexuality. Although same-sex relationships existed prior to the invention of this terminology, it encouraged people to identify themselves and others differently (Angel Daniel Matos, 2013). As a result, the judgment of gender and