First English dictionary of ancient Greek since Victorian era spares no blushes

Re:First English dictionary of ancient Greek since Victorian... by SideburnsOfDoom on Friday May 28, 2021 @03:02AM (#27312515)

> but they're really just creating a dictionary that's prudish in a different way.

I think you have the wrong end of the stick: "Gay" did not become a common slang term for homosexual until "mid-20th century" (1)

In the context in which the dictionary entry was written for English academics in 1889, "gay" did not not homosexual at all, it meant "bright", "happy" and "cheerful". i.e. that these clothes were colourful "glad rags".

No prudery is being inserted, instead outdated _English_ that would be misinterpreted by modern readers as rude has been changed. Ancient Greek is a dead language, but English is living and changing.

Not to mention, the modern identity of "Homosexual" simply wasn't relevant to ancient Greeks. (2)

> The ancient Greeks did not conceive of sexual orientation as a social identifier as modern Western societies have done. Greek society did not distinguish sexual desire or behavior by the gender of the participants

1) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gay

2) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homosexuality_in_ancient_Greec...

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Re:First English dictionary of ancient Greek since Victorian... by ramblerman on Friday May 28, 2021 @03:33AM (#27312683)

It didn't go from meaning cheerful to then suddenly homosexual. It meant promiscuous and immoral in between.

The victorian dictionary was implying it is a dress worn by a hooker.

from your own source (wikipedia/gay):

> A gay woman was a prostitute, a gay man a womanizer, and a gay house a brothel.[2] An example is a letter read to a London court in 1885 during the prosecution of brothel madam and procuress Mary Jeffries that had been written by a girl while slaved to a French brothel:

> "I write to tell you it is a gay house...Some captains came in the other night, and the mistress wanted us to sleep with them."[13]

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Re:First English dictionary of ancient Greek since Victorian... by SideburnsOfDoom on Friday May 28, 2021 @03:42AM (#27312732)

I take your point, but in 1889 academic English though? The primary meaning was still "happy".

Ultimately though, when translating Ancient Greek to modern English, what the 1889 meaning and moralising was is neither here nor there. It is nothing but confusing, and removing it is not "prudish".

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