'Maricon', 'sarasa', 'bujarron', all of us gays know from our own experience,
the terms which the majority of society frequently uses to refer to us.
The abundance of possibilities in Galician and even more in Castilian is,
as we know, quite large. What we do not know is the origin of all of these
words and what precedences are found in similar languages, that is to say,
other romance languages, which like Galician come from Latin. As we will
see, these origins are very similar even though the languages are different,
the phobia which determines the names used for male homosexuals is common
to all of those languages.
To start, all romance languages, and European languages in general, have
received a series of loans coming from the classical languages. So, Latin,
Greek and even Hebrew offer a series of lexical elements which are frequently
found in books, essays and dictionaries. Here are the cultisms most widely
used
-'Pederast" is a word inherited from Greek. It is composed of two others
'boy' and 'lover' which give us a hint of the meaning- 'an adult man who
likes young boys'. As time passed, that initial meaning was broadened and
ended up referring to any type of male homosexual relationship. Such was
the generalization of this use that in France it lost its understanding
as a cultism. The
French "pe'de'", a diminutive of "pe'deraste" is commonly
used in a derogatory manner. In addition to 'pe'de'" the insult "pe'dale'
is also used (literally, "pedal") which, in the beginning"
was understood as a eufemism.
-"Sodomite" everyone is aware of the Biblical character of this
word. It comes from "sodomy", a eufemism used to refer to anal
sex and, as an extension, homosexuality. According to Biblical experts,
in Sodom, a practice of intercourse caused God to reduce the city to ashes.
-"Homosexual" this is the most widely used word, besides 'gay'
to refer asceptically to sexual relations among persons of the same sex.
It deals with a neologism introduced at the end of the nineteenth century
and was created from the Greek element "homos" (similar, equal)
and 'sexual'.
Besides these and other more or less eufemistic names- like 'inverted' or
'effeminate', for example, languages developed though popular use a diverse
abundance of derrogatory insults and characterizations. A clear example
is the Catalan "culer" (literraly, one attracted to the 'culos'
(buttocks)). But almost all popular names are the result of a comparison
of homosexual sexual practice to phenomena which 'popular wisdom' considered
pertinent to such practice.
One of the most common comparisons es that made between homosexuals and
women.
I should emphasize here that many derrogatory comparison of this type have
been made based on two characterizations of women the talkative woman and
the woman of relaxed morals. Male chauvinist considerations of the female
image are applied by patriarcal societies when describing homosexual practices.
From the analogy, "homosexual= common woman" arised the well known
name "marico'n" (another vulgar name which used to represent for
male chauvinists the prototype of the woman, today uses another term in
Spain " maruja(housewife)". From "marica" a word which
we find in languages of the Iberian Peninsula (Galician, Portuguese, Catalan
and Castilian) arose an entire lexical family of derivations "marico'n",
"amaricado", "maricallo", "mariquita", "mariquinhas",
etc. Another term which comes from a representative name of a woman is "mario'n",
which was used prior to "marico'n" in the Iberian Peninsula, and
today is restricted to some dialects (especially those in the linguistic
family of Catalan, Occitan and French). From "mario'n" we also
have some derivatives "mariolo", "marioso", "marietta",
"mariette'. In Italian, we find "checca", a diminutive of
"Francesca" (in Galician "checca" would be "Paca"),
also used to refer to male homosexuals.
From the patricarchal identification, "homosexual= prostitute"
arises the term "puto", widely used in the Middle Ages in Castilian
(and surely also in Galician-Portuguese) and which later was substituted
in its daily use by "marico'n" and all of its derivaties. Nevertheless,
"puto" is a very commonly used term in Iberoamerica. From this
characterization, also comes the name "sarasa" (pest, woman prostitute)
typical of the Castilian of Andalucia and which later extended throughout
the entire Iberian Peninsula. From the characterizing connection of the
homosexual under-world of prostitution, also arose the name "chulo"
in the family of ibero-romance languages. Depending on the language "chulo"
can mean the man who prostitutes himself, a type of "macho-homosexual"
or, now in general, any characterization of a homosexual (this is the case
in Brazilian Portuguese).
Another habitual characterization is that of "homosexual= gossipy woman
" which produces names such as "damerino" (in Italian), 'tapette',
'tante', 'tantouse' (these three are in French). In direct relationship
to the two previous descriptions, we find that of "homosexual= lazy,
do-nothing, unuseful" and that of "floscio", lazy, lacking
get up and go, which is very widely used in Italy.
The common identification of male homosexuals with animals, symbolizing
femininity is especially utilized. Along with this description, the Portuguese
term 'bicha', very widely used, is related, along with its derivatives 'bichoa',
'bicharoca', 'bichona'... Traditionally, 'bicha' was used for snakes, besides
other species such as the "earthworm' or the 'leech'. A similar term
is 'mariposa' (butterfly), used widely in Castilian as a eufemism. But,
perhaps the most humilliating term, based on an analogy "homosexual=
female animal", is the Italian 'recchione', 'ricchine' which comes
from 'recchia' (a ewe which strays away for reproduction). It is very possible
that the Brazilian Portuguese name of 'veado' (deer) (as well as 'vente-e-quatro'
(twenty-four), a number which represents the 'veado' in the 'Lotaria do
Bicho') is related to this type of identification with animals.
An exception to all of these processes consists of the term 'bujar' which
produces in Castilian 'bujarron/a', 'bujarra'. It seems to originate from
the Latin "Bulgarum" (native of Bulgaria, a country of late christianization),
which was very widely used in its time as a synonym of 'heretic'. The extension
of the meaning of 'heretic' or of 'sin' and later that of 'sodomite' fixed
the word as a homophobic insult. Besides the well-known Castilian solution
(which extended to the Galician-portuguese languages), we also have solutions
of the same etimology and with the same meaning in Catalan (bujarro') in
French ('bougeron') and in Italian speech ('buggerone') although all of
them are now in diuse.
The current 'gay' which is still not recognized by the Royal Academy of
Galician in its dictionary, also came from Latin. The etimology seems to
be 'gaudium' (happy, gay) an adjective very common in French and in Occitan-
especially in the Middle Ages. The solution "gai-e' of galo-romance
also passed to English, keeping the following initial meanings a person
filled with happiness or disposed to happiness (in connection with this
idea would also be such names as "folle'(crazy), 'louca", 'loca'
(fool), a personinteresed in pleasure or an 'evil' life-style, and a conceited
person. On seeing the other associations, it is not surprising that 'gay'
soon became associated to the term 'homosexual' in English. This name would
fall into disuse for centuries until the contemporary homosexual movement
would take it to mean the conscious, liberated homosexual.
There are, therefore, some of the widely used names in Europe. We can see
that the most common and popular arise from a type of associations generated
by the patriarchal system in order to stigmatize homosexuality in a manner
more or less indirect.