Learn English – Was the word for the BDSM costume “gimp suit” coined by Tarantino in Pulp Fiction

etymologymeaning

I recently read the opening chapter of Middlemarch and was surprised by the appearance of the word gimp in relation to articles of clothing. In this context it meant

twisted silk, worsted, or cotton with cord or wire running through it, used chiefly as upholstery trimming

However, I was only familiar with the gimp from Pulp Fiction. According to wiktionary this is :

A sexual submissive, almost always male, dressed generally in a black leather suit.

This is apparently derived from another meaning of gimp that OED dates to the 1920s (origin unknown).

a physically disabled or lame person

Wiktionary suggests that the word is a mutation of limp and therefore unrelated to gimp fabric. But what about the BDSM sort of gimp, when and where was the first such usage and which came first, the gimp or the gimp suit? Does the 'sexual submissive' meaning originate from the Tarantino film?

Best Answer

EtymOnline has this:

gimp (1) 1925, "a crippled leg," also "a crippled person," perhaps by association with limp, or a corruption of gammy (see game (adj.)).

gimp (2) also gymp, ornamental material for trimming dresses, furniture, etc., 1660s, from Fr. guimpe, O.Fr. guimple "wimple, headdress, veil," from a Germanic source (cf. O.H.G. wimpal).

It agrees with your sources on etymology of gimp as a slang word and sheds some light on it's "fabric" meaning, which seems to be at least several hundred years older.

As to gimp suit, it seems to be coined in Tarantino's Pulp Fiction (Wikipedia) and is younger than both above meanings of gimp.

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