By Curt_Anderson February 12, 2023 2:03 pm Category: Theatre (0.0 from 0 votes)
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According to Wikipedia, the use of "drag" in this sense appeared in print as early as 1870 but its origin is uncertain. One suggested etymological root is 19th-century theatre slang, from the sensation of long skirts trailing on the floor. It may have been based on the term "grand rag" which was historically used for a masquerade ball.
According to Curt Anderson's theory there is a different and historically deeper linguistic explanation.
The German verb for wear (as in to wear clothes) is tragen. The storyteller brother Jacob in his Grimm's Law of consonant and vowel shifts noted that there is a consistency of words changing from one language to another including German to English. For example, the German kalt becomes the English cold.
Likewise, it's possible that the T in tragen changed to the D in drag. In Shakespeare's time women were not allowed on stage. Men played both male and female roles. Drag may have meant to wear a costume regardless of gender but the meaning changed over time to refer to male performers wearing women's clothes specifically.
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