From the Latin 'genus' (genitive generis) "race, stock, family; order; species, (male or female) sex".
Also used in Latin to translate Aristotle's Greek grammatical term genos. The grammatical sense is attested in English from the late 14th century. The un-etymological 'd' is a phonetic accretion from Old French.
The "male-or-female sex" sense is attested in English from the early 15th century & the use of it in that sense became increasingly more common. As the word "sex" took on erotic qualities in the 20th century, gender came to be the formal English word for the "sex of a human being".
Later, often in feminist writing, with reference to social attributes as much as biological qualities; this sense of the term was first attested in 1963. The pejorative "gender-bender" is from mainstream media circa 1977, with unambiguous reference to pop star David Bowie.
This post is going to cause me a lot of trouble, I mean no offence when posting this & I recognise that some people will feel irritation with me for it, but I must say that I do not object to terms that fit, or new words that do the job too, but I dislike the hijacking of established terms & the addition or changing of meanings of words, even for such a benign & worthy cause.
Again, I stress, this is not personalised beyond me stating my dislike of the idea that words meanings can just be radically altered & anyone who objects must be a "bigot", another terms whose proper meaning hasn't changed, but has been added to & is now lost to common use in its original sense.
I realise that the word "gay" is lost in its original meaning/sense & will not return to that use. I can still read it used in the original sense by reading some of my older books, by 'older' in this context, I mean published before 1960.
"Let he who is without sin, cast the first stone.." ~ Jesus Christ
Saturday, late afternoon, the remanants of a cup of coffee have gone cold, the fire is warm, making the room seem cosier than it would otherwise be. The rain is intermittent, but a downpour is sure to come. Got a stinker of a cold, so informed Deacon that unfortunately, I won't be attending service tomorrow.
Going to have a nice hot meal, of roast beef, potatoes, carrots, onions, garlic & herbs, with a side of steamed savoy cabbage, done over the pan of pot's.
I think a hot bath and early bed, are definitely on the cards for tonight, I'll read until I can't, then I'll put out the light & go to sleep. I've got cocoa, so a big mug of steaming hot cocoa beteween exiting the bath & going to bed, will be a nice way to end the evening.
I hope you are well & remembering to live, as well as being the worker/fixer/boss/co-owner/whatever. We must be mindful of the welfare of others, at all times, at all times except when we need to put ourselves first, temporarily, when it's time to recharge ...
