Before the Word Was Queer

Sexuality and the English Dictionary, 1600–1930

Stephen Turton (University of Oxford)

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Hardback

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English

Cambridge University Press
21 March 2024

Sociolinguistics; Historical & comparative linguistics; Lexicography; Gay & Lesbian studies

Bringing together research from queer linguistics and lexicography, this book uncovers how same-sex acts, desires, and identities have been represented in English dictionaries published in Britain from the early modern to the inter-war period. Moving across time – from the appearance of the ﬁrst standalone English dictionary to the completion of the ﬁrst edition of the Oxford English Dictionary – and shuttling across genres – from general usage, hard words, thieves' cant, and slang to law, medicine, classical myth, women's biography, and etymology – it asks how dictionary-writers made sense of same-sex intimacy, and how they failed or refused to make sense of it. It also queries how readers interacted with dictionaries' constructions of sexual morality, against the broader backdrop of changing legal, religious, and scientiﬁc institutions. In answering these questions, the book responds and contributes to established traditions and new trends in linguistics, queer theory, literary criticism, and the history of sexuality.

By: Stephen Turton (University of Oxford)
Imprint: Cambridge University Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
ISBN: 9781316518731
ISBN 10: 1316518736
Pages: 350
Publication Date: 21 March 2024
Audience: College/higher education , Further / Higher Education
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

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.

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).

Reviews for Before the Word Was Queer: Sexuality and the English Dictionary, 1600–1930

'Written with grace and clarity, this book makes an irrefutable case for historical lexicography and the light it sheds on past understanding of same-sex desire. In particular, it sets out new research on love and sex between women. It combines mastery of lexicographical detail with lucid exploration of the intellectual frameworks shaping historical attitudes to sex.' Charlotte Brewer, Hertford College, University of Oxford 'Turton's well-crafted, highly readable monograph uses a scavenger methodology to expose privileged voices repeatedly erasing references to marginalized sexuality in English dictionaries, 1600–1930. A convincing introduction to the method and theory of queer historical linguistics.' William L. Leap, Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies Program. Florida Atlantic University, USA 'This book brilliantly demonstrates what queer theory can do for lexicography – and vice versa. An essential read for lovers and scholars of language, dictionaries, and the long arc of LGBTQ+ history.' Jeffrey Masten, author of Queer Philologies