- lesbian (adj.)
- 1590s, "pertaining to the island of Lesbos," from L. Lesbius, from Gk. lesbios "of Lesbos," Gk. island in northeastern Aegean Sea (the name originally may have meant "wooded"), home of Sappho, great lyric poet whose erotic and romantic verse embraced women as well as men, hence meaning "relating to homosexual relations between women" (1890; lesbianism in this sense is attested from 1870) and the noun, first recorded 1925. Before this, the principal figurative use (common in 17c.) was lesbian rule (c.1600) a mason's rule of lead, of a type used on Lesbos, which could be bent to fit the curves of a molding; hence, "pliant morality or judgment."
"And this is the nature of the equitable, a correction of law where it is defective owing to its universality. ... For when the thing is indefinite the rule also is indefinite, like the leaden rule used in making the Lesbian moulding; the rule adapts itself to the shape of the stone and is not rigid, and so too the decree is adapted to the facts." [Aristotle, "Nicomachean Ethics"]
- femme
- from Fr., lit. "woman." Slang meaning "passive and more feminine partner in a lesbian couple" is first attested 1961.
- lesbo
- by 1940, colloquial shortening of lesbian.
- butch
- "tough youth," 1902, first attested in nickname of outlaw George Cassidy, probably an abbreviation of butcher. Sense of "aggressive lesbian" is 1940s.
- lez
- also les; by 1929, colloquial shortening of lesbian.
- she-male
- early 19c. U.S. colloquial, "a female," from she + male.
"Davy Crockett's hand would be sure to shake if his iron was pointed within a hundred miles of a shemale." ["Treasury of American Folklore"]
By 1972 it had come to be used (disparagingly) for "masculine lesbian." The sense of "transsexual male" seems to date from c.1984. - dyke
- 1931, Amer.Eng., probably shortening of morphadike, dialectal garbling of hermaphrodite, but bulldyker "engage in lesbian activities" is attested from 1921, and a source from 1896 lists dyke as slang for "the vulva."
- Sapphic
- 1501, from Fr. saphique, from L. Sapphicus, from Gk. Sapphikos "of Sappho," in ref. to Sappho, poetess of the isle of Lesbos c.600 B.C.E. Especially in reference to her characteristic meters; sense of "pertaining to sexual relations between women" is from 1890 (see lesbian).
- radish
- late O.E. rædic, from L. radicem, acc. of radix "root," from PIE base *wrad- "twig, root" (cf. Gk. rhiza, Lesbian brisda "root;" Gk. hradamnos "branch;" Goth. waurts, O.E. wyrt, Welsh gwridd, O.Ir. fren "root").
- moon (n.)
- O.E. mona, from P.Gmc. *mænon- (cf. O.S., O.H.G. mano, O.Fris. mona, O.N. mani, Du. maan, Ger. Mond, Goth. mena "moon"), from PIE *me(n)ses- "moon, month" (cf. Skt. masah "moon, month;" Avestan ma, Pers. mah, Arm. mis "month;" Gk. mene "moon," men "month;" L. mensis "month;" O.C.S. meseci, Lith. menesis "moon, month;" O.Ir. mi, Welsh mis, Bret. miz "month"), probably from base *me- "to measure," in ref. to the moon's phases as the measure of time. In Gk., Italic, Celtic, Armenian the cognate words now mean only "month." Gk. selene (Lesbian selanna) is from selas "light, brightness (of heavenly bodies)." Extended 1665 to satellites of other planets. To shoot the moon "leave without paying rent" is British slang from c.1823; card-playing sense perhaps infl. by gambler's shoot the works (1922) "go for broke" in shooting dice. The man in the moon is mentioned since c.1310; he carries a bundle of thorn-twigs and is accompanied by a dog. Some Japanese, however, see a rice-cake-making rabbit in the moon.