Masculine Venery, Buggery, first known to have been used among the People of Sodom. A Ganymede, or Ingle that is, a Boy hired to be us'd contrary to Nature, to commit Sodomy with.
Sodomite in which City of Sodom, this wickedness was first committed, that we read of. Sodomitical, one gilty of the horrid sin of London, 1704.Ĭatamidiate, a putting to open shame for a notorious offence.Ĭatamite, a boy hired to be used contrary to nature, for Sodomy. There is a good subject here for a major linguistic study.Ĭocker's English Dictionary: Interpreting the most refined and difficult words, by Edward Cocker. It is also interesting to see the less familiar terms given in dictionaries of Hindi, Persian, Spanish and Welsh. "Molly" also appeared in a French/English dictionary in 1767, as well as in several slang (or "cant") dictionaries, along with other slang terms such as "madge". For example, the word "molly" appeared in a Swedish/English dictionary in 1762, where it is simply defined as a sodomite, a buggerer, without effeminate connotations.
Incidentally, the word "catamite" is sometimes just a synonym for "sodomite", and was not always restricted to one who submits to sodomy. Indeed, in Cocker's English dictionary of 1704 sodomy is defined simply as "male venery", which is really as abstract as the modern synonym "male homosexuality". I think we can safely assume that "buggery" is widely understood as meaning anal intercourse between males, but the word "sodomy" seems to have a rather broader meaning, i.e. NOTE: In the following selection of definitions from dictionaries published during the eighteenth century, the most common words relating to homosexuality are "sodomy" and "buggery", which of course is no surprise. Homosexual Terms in 18th-century Dictionaries