Tramp smoking cigar with cane over arm - restoration photo by Russel-Morgan Printer with help from Adam Cuerden is licensed under the Public Domain
Before widespread use of the term ‘homeless’ as a subject for scientific study, there were other names, for example, ‘tramp,’ ‘hobo,’ ‘vagrant’ and many others.
As for the word ‘homeless,’ the retrospective linked below suggests that the first recorded use of the word may well have been 1888. That date was uncovered by João Gama Marques, Joana Henriques-Calado and Martin M. Schumacher, who have written an editorial on this long-established field of medical research. They highlight three historic sources:
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- One hundred years of “the hobo: the sociology of the homeless man” by Nels Anderson
- Thirty years of “Santé Mentale et Exclusion Sociale” by Luigi Leonori
- Twenty years of “Sem-Amor Sem-Abrigo” by António Bento and Elias Barreto
The authors’ take on this subject also includes current thinking and practice about mental illness among people experiencing homelessness, an issue that is growing worldwide. Read more in this editorial in Frontiers In Psychology: Editorial: Mental illness and neuropsychiatry of the homeless: psychosis, personality, drug abuse, and other brain disorders
