Origins
The late 19th century was a time when many African-Americans were migrating to cities in larger numbers, and the word "homeboy" meant a male friend from back home. It was eventually shortened to "homie". The word is also a contraction of Mexican slang words "homeboy" or "homebuddies" which became prevalent among some of the youth in Latino and chicano communities in the United States, starting in the late 1960s and continuing up to the present. Since the 1980s, the word has been particularly prevalent in hip hop subculture. The word "homie" was also commonly associated with gangs, gang symbols, and rebellious youth.
Some etymologists have questioned whether the term "home boy" may have had its origins in the Spanish word "hombre" which means "man".
Other sources state that "homeboy" originated during the Viet Nam War era in the military, and referenced two soldiers being from the same hometown. Once it was discovered that two soldiers were from the same hometown, they would refer to each other as Homeboy, which was later shortened to Homie or Home.
Read more about this topic: Homie
Famous quotes containing the word origins:
“Lucretius
Sings his great theory of natural origins and of wise conduct; Plato
smiling carves dreams, bright cells
Of incorruptible wax to hive the Greek honey.”
—Robinson Jeffers (1887–1962)
“Compare the history of the novel to that of rock ‘n’ roll. Both started out a minority taste, became a mass taste, and then splintered into several subgenres. Both have been the typical cultural expressions of classes and epochs. Both started out aggressively fighting for their share of attention, novels attacking the drama, the tract, and the poem, rock attacking jazz and pop and rolling over classical music.”
—W. T. Lhamon, U.S. educator, critic. “Material Differences,” Deliberate Speed: The Origins of a Cultural Style in the American 1950s, Smithsonian (1990)
“The origins of clothing are not practical. They are mystical and erotic. The primitive man in the wolf-pelt was not keeping dry; he was saying: “Look what I killed. Aren’t I the best?””
—Katharine Hamnett (b. 1948)