Sappho
» Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual
From a review of If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho and The Sappho History by Margaret Reynolds.
Until the end of the 19th century, the usual English terms for lesbian practices did not draw on classical literature. Women could be "lovers of their own sex" or, in the more frank Greek loan word, "tribades" (literally "rubbers"; the words "rubster" and "fricatrice" were also used in the 17th century). The OED cites no usage of "lesbianism" in the modern sense before 1870, when it was used to argue that Swinburne's obsessive interest in Sapphic love was just as "loathsome" as sodomy.
Until the end of the 19th century, the usual English terms for lesbian practices did not draw on classical literature. Women could be "lovers of their own sex" or, in the more frank Greek loan word, "tribades" (literally "rubbers"; the words "rubster" and "fricatrice" were also used in the 17th century). The OED cites no usage of "lesbianism" in the modern sense before 1870, when it was used to argue that Swinburne's obsessive interest in Sapphic love was just as "loathsome" as sodomy.
Emily Wilson, Lady of Lesbos