Does the homosexual term 'lesbian' come from the Greek woman Clodia, who was nicknamed Lesbia due to her affinities for women?
by 
Pumby umby umpkin Est. 1989
ANSWERS: 2
-
Lesbian. Pertaining to Lesbos, one of the islands of the Greek Archipelago, or to Sappho, the famous poetess of Lesbos, and the homosexual practices attributed to her.
-
My understanding of the term's origin is that its original meaning was "from Lesbos", Lesbos being a Greek island. It came to have its connatations of sexuality due to the ancient poet Sappho, a Lesbian (ie. from Lesbos - whether she was "lesbian" in the modern sense is unsure), who wrote somewhat homoerotic poetry in the 7th century BC where her female narrators spoke of love for other women. Thus "lesbian" came to be used to describe such female-on-female love affairs and encounters rather than merely as a geographical locator. If Clodia was nicknamed Lesbia, then that shows that the term was already in use with its modern meaning by that point.
RELATED QUESTIONS
Copyright 2023, Wired Ivy, LLC