According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the first recorded
use of the word "homosexuality" in the English language was recorded in 1892. There are actually
two quotations from that year. The second is from Symonds; the first is from Richard Freiherr von Krafft-Ebbing's
book Psychopathia Sexualis,
translated from the German by one C.G. Chaddock. The full quotation in the OED reads:
1892 C. G. CHADDOCK tr.Krafft-Ebing's Psychopathia Sexualis III. 185 (heading) Great diminution
or complete absence of sexual feeling for the opposite sex, with substitution of
sexual feeling and instinct for the same sex. (Homo-sexuality, or contrary sexual instinct.)
Psychopathia Sexualis
was published in German in 1886. I do not know what month the English version was published in 1892; however, there is
a month listed for Symonds's quotation:
1892 J. A. SYMONDS Let. 21 Oct. in P. Grosskurth J. A. Symonds (1964) 269
There is an inborn bias toward homosexuality.
It is not a stretch to imagine that Symonds read Psychopathia Sexualis prior to writing this letter. Unfortunately, I cannot find this letter in The Letters of John Addington Symonds. It is cited in Grosskurth's biography (the manuscript belonging to a collection at the University of Bristol) as being a letter to Havelock Ellis, who Symonds was collaborating with on a work that would be similar to Psychopathia Sexualis.
I do not know if this word was bandied about privately in Symonds's correspondence with other homosexual men of the time, or if he plucked "homosexual" directly from Krafft-Ebbing's work, and was using it only in proper scientific discourse with a proper scientist. The missing hyphen in Symonds's letter suggests some familiarity with it, although that could have been Grosskurth's deletion. Nevertheless, the word with out a doubt came out of the world of sexology, which men like Symonds, while not the intended audience, were well versed in. It hardly seems plausible that it had a more organic history among civilian homosexuals.