History | Equality
A Wordy, Nerdy, History of ‘Gay’
Tracing words through history, from adjectives to identities
The name Caesar has been adopted into languages across the world as a noun. The Ancient Roman cognomen, or, family name, has become a symbol of autocratic rule. It became the Middle English keiser, the German Kaiser, and the Russian tsar, all meaning sole ruler.
This is unsurprising. Julius Caesar, the most famous Caesar in history, was briefly, after decades of civil war, the dictator perpetuo (dictator for life) of Ancient Rome from 46 to 44 BCE. It was the first time an Ancient Roman held such a title, and it ended with one of history’s most dramatic deaths when he was assassinated. We all know the story.
History remembers Caesar as a man who came, saw, and conquered. History forgets that he had a cameo evolution of the word “gay” as it passed through seven languages and countless definitions over 2,800 years.
The word survived the birth and death of numerous empires. It watched dictators like Julius Caesar rise and fall, standing the test of time and adapting to ever-changing environments, beginning in the Iron Age and lasting until the Information Age.
