English
gunsel
Gunsel comes from Yiddish גענדזל ‘gosling’, and goes back to Middle High German gensel.
- Middle High Germanc. 1050–1350gensel
- Yiddishmodernגענדזלgendzl‘gosling’
- Englishearliest quotation 1929gunsel
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Middle High Germanc. 1050–1350gensel
- Yiddishmodernגענדזלgendzl‘gosling’
- Englishearliest quotation 1929gunsel
Earliest quotation: 1929, Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon: “The boy’s eyes […] ran over Spade’s body from…”
Every English word from Middle High German gensel
Today it means
noun Synonym of catamite: a young man kept by an elder as a (usually passive) homosexual partner.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Middle High German gensel / gunsel