![]() As a noun, gai referred to a lewd person. It could mean happy or frolicsome, lighthearted or fickle, impetuous or reckless, attractive or amorous, or lascivious and lewd. The Anglo-Norman word had multiple meanings which were carried over into English. The word is probably Germanic in origin, with the Old High German gāhi, fast or fleeting, suggested as a likely progenitor. There are cognates in other Romance languages, notably Provencal, Old Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian, but no likely Latin candidate for a root exists. The English word comes from the Anglo-Norman gai, but where this French word comes from is in question. We’ve got a pretty good, albeit by no means beyond doubt, idea where the word originally comes from, and there are several plausible suggestions for how the word became adopted by the queer community. The word, in its various meanings, is of somewhat uncertain origin. ![]() Gay traditionally meant joyful or light-hearted but in the last century came to mean homosexual.
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