Before the Word Was Queer - Sexuality and the English Dictionary, 16001930

"This book uncovers how same-sex acts, desires, and identities have been represented in English dictionaries in Britain from the early modern to the interwar period. In doing so, it responds and contributes to established traditions and new trends in linguistics, queer theory, literary criticism, and the history of sexuality"--

List of contents

List of Figures; List of Tables; Acknowledgements; Notes; List of Abbreviations; Introduction: Charting the Sexual and Lexical Outlands; 1. Legislating Acts: The Limits of Buggery, Sodomy, and Copulation; 2. Estranging English: The Centre of the Language and the Queer Frontier; 3. Silencing Sex: Social Propriety and Lexical Censorship; 4. Dissecting Matter: Odd Bodies in Medical Dictionaries; 5. Taxonomizing Desire: Science and Sexuality in the Oxford English Dictionary; Conclusion: Looking beyond the Queer and Now; Appendix I: Anne Lister's Erotic Glossary; Appendix II: Same-sex Definitions in Dictionaries, 1604-1933; References; Index.

About the author

Stephen Turton is a Research Fellow in English at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. He writes and teaches on the history of English, lexicography, literature, and gender and sexuality. He is the co-editor of an ongoing project to digitize the letters of James A. H. Murray, the first chief editor of the Oxford English Dictionary (www.MurrayScriptorium.org).

Summary

This book uncovers how same-sex acts, desires, and identities have been represented in English dictionaries in Britain from the early modern to the interwar period. In doing so, it responds and contributes to established traditions and new trends in linguistics, queer theory, literary criticism, and the history of sexuality.

Foreword

This book uncovers how same-sex sexuality has been represented in English dictionaries from the early modern to the interwar period.

Product details

• Authors: Stephen Turton, Stephen (University of Oxford) Turton
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press ELT
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 30.04.2024
• EAN: 9781316518731
• ISBN: 978-1-316-51873-1
• No. of pages: 350
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > General and comparative linguistics; English, LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Linguistics / Sociolinguistics, 20th Century, LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Lexicography, c 1800 to c 1900, 19th century, c 1800 to c 1899, Sociolinguistics, 20th century, c 1900 to c 1999, 18th century, c 1700 to c 1799, 17th century, c 1600 to c 1699, Gay & Lesbian studies, Lexicography, Historical & comparative linguistics, C 1600 To C 1700, SOCIAL SCIENCE / LGBTQ+ Studies / General, C 1700 To C 1800, Historical and comparative linguistics, LGBTQ+ Studies / topics