On the Etymology of Dike

Examined are a number of possible sources for the word dike. These possibilities include Afrikaans, American Black, Australian, British, & Regional American dialect sources. Some of the approaches are promising, but they are each based on some vague semantic or formal link to dike 'lesbian&...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:American speech 1985-12, Vol.60 (4), p.318-327
Main Author: Spears, Richard A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Attestations
Daggers
Dialects
Dictionaries
Etymology
Female homosexuality
Glossaries
Slang
Underworld
Words
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Examined are a number of possible sources for the word dike. These possibilities include Afrikaans, American Black, Australian, British, & Regional American dialect sources. Some of the approaches are promising, but they are each based on some vague semantic or formal link to dike 'lesbian', & each possibility seems to be as promising a source as the favorite source: 'hermaphrodite'. It is likely that the crucial information required for a satisfactory derivation simply was not recorded due to the taboo nature of the term. Slang & the language of the underworld have never been monitored to the degree that Standard English has been, & the material required to offer dependable etymologies may not exist. 58 References. AA
ISSN:0003-1283
1527-2133
DOI:10.2307/454909