A Rose by Any Other Name. . .
A native living in Athens, whether in Greece or the U.S. State of Georgia, is appropriately called an Athenian. It is a generally accepted practice known as an adjectival ending that will modify a noun to turn it into an adjective. In the case of the -ian ending, it would commonly suggest ‘being from, related to, or like,’ the modified noun. Such would be the case for an Argentinian, an Austrian, a Belgian, a Brazilian, a Cambodian, a Colombian, or a Croatian. I could go on ad nauseum, but I think you get the idea. That being the accepted practice, how would you refer to a native of the Greek island of Lesbos? Come on. You thought it. Yes! A native of the island of Lesbos is appropriately classified as a Lesbian. Oh my gosh! An entire island of Lesbians.
If we were to restrict ourselves to literary correctness, and we were referring to the notion defined as ‘of or relating to homosexual women’ the difference in the two meanings would exist solely in the case of the first letter. That is a small ‘l’ or capital ‘L.’ However, the size of the first letter does not alter the mental image created. So how did we get here?
What is the etymology of the word lesbian as opposed to Lesbian? The term is a derivation of the island’s name. More specifically, it was co-opted from a reference to a long-celebrated Lesbian poet. Sappho, a famous Greek poet(ess) who wrote her lyrical poems in the 7th century BC, was, in fact, a Lesbian. Whether she was also a lesbian is still quite impossible to determine with any certainty. Some dissenting Greek scholars claim that Sappho was not only married to a man but had children like most Greek married women of the period— an argument which fails to affirm their argument that Sappho was not a lesbian and openly questions their validity as a scholar since marriage and children do not guarantee a heterosexual woman.
The lesbian-denying protestors go on to express the opinion that the reason for the confusion is that non-Greek historians do not understand the nature of ancient Greek relationships, be they between men and women, men and men, or women and women. This is true because most of the ancient Mediterranean world spoke Greek. The Greeks were revered for their culture and emulated by speaking Greek as their first language. Even the Roman Senate conducted its sessions in Greek until the birth of Christianity. But this does not settle the question of Sappho’s sexual preference.
Gay community passionistas will quote from remnants left of her works to attest to her erotic passages about women and love— which rightly illustrate her remarkable talent. While these references may have been autobiographical, they also may have been a function of how Greek women spoke of other women in her era. Claiming she was gay based on her lyrics is the same as someone today claiming Bruce Springsteen was a blue-collar worker based on his songs.
Even today, many Greek women will refer to other women in endearing terms like ‘κούκλα µου’ (‘my doll’) or ‘µάτια µου’ (‘my eyes’). But these terms are also uttered to one’s children or friends and have no erotic component whatsoever. In the modern context of how women speak to one another, however, it’s not a stretch to see how those moved by her words would brand Sappho as their celebrated poster lesbian. And now that the word lesbian has long been memorialized in our English dictionaries, there is no escaping the mental image popping into one’s consciousness at the mere mention of the island’s name.
In a new world where people may no longer say a word that carries any negative connotation, it is not surprising that some Lesbians would get upset over the mental image I just mentioned. A few did.
In 2008, a group of Lesbians became so upset that their homeland was forever associated with lesbians and gays that it filed a lawsuit against the ‘Homosexual and Lesbian Community of Greece.’ The suit attempted to ban the gay rights organization from using the term ‘lesbian.’ The plaintiffs tried to get an injunction by explaining that the Greek government was so embarrassed that it had been forced to rename the island after its capital city, Mytilene.
How can 3,000 years of historical and cultural context compare with the social embarrassment of bureaucrats?
Thankfully, the plaintiffs were unsuccessful in their lawsuit as a few intelligent adult minds remained in the Greek judiciary. In the end, I’m confident that even the plaintiffs would not refuse the money offered when a lesbian couple orders a plate of souvlaki in a Lesbian restaurant. A clear demonstration that Greeks place the altar of capitalism far above the altar of social awkwardness.
It is true some Lesbians were also lesbians in the 7th century B.C. Even if there is no way to establish whether Sappho was a lesbian, she is worthy of the pride she has instilled in those who insist she is. And, for those who staunchly demand that she was not a lesbian, perhaps a few sessions with a Greek philosopher can assist them in dealing with the logical impossibility of proving a negative.
