What is the etymology of the word "horny"?

[Techno-Soviet]

In the context of being sexually aroused. Serious question.

[EvilDarkMagicians]

In the context of being sexually aroused. Serious question.

Penises used to look like horns before we evolved.

[Vonners]

Can't help but think of Derek & Clive...

[Tiberius Flavius Sulla]

horny
"lustful, sexually aroused," definitely in use 1889, perhaps attested as early as 1863; from late 18c. slang expression to have the horn, suggestive of male sexual excitement (but eventually applied to women as well); see horn.

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?sea ... hmode=none

[The Norwegian Blue]

A quick google search suggests that Black Pack got it right - apparently, "to have the horn" was a 19th-century slang term for what we'd now call "to have the boner."

[Techno-Soviet]

An erect penis being compared to a horn

I figured it was something like that.

\:

[Panzerjaeger]

Best topic today.

[You-Gi-Owe]

horny
"lustful, sexually aroused," definitely in use 1889, perhaps attested as early as 1863; from late 18c. slang expression to have the horn, suggestive of male sexual excitement (but eventually applied to women as well); see horn.

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?sea ... hmode=none

I thought it might have something to do with Unicorns.

[Betoni]

I'd do a lmgtfy, but I can't be arsed, so instead I'll just post to inform you that I can't be arsed.

Nah, f*ck it: Let me google that for you.
I find etymonline quite reliable and easy to use if you're interested in etymology. Some online dictionaries have decent etymology sections too and wikipedia is always useful.

[Coccygia]

horny
"lustful, sexually aroused," definitely in use 1889, perhaps attested as early as 1863; from late 18c. slang expression to have the horn, suggestive of male sexual excitement (but eventually applied to women as well); see horn.

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?sea ... hmode=none

I thought it might have something to do with Unicorns.

Well...according to myth the only way to catch a unicorn was to use a virgin as bait. The unicorn would come up to the virgin and passively lay his head in her lap. (In Elizabethan slang, lap meant a woman's naughty bits. This is why Ophelia is a bit upset when Hamlet says, "Shall I lie in your lap?" In those days that was roughly equivalent to, "Wanna screw, lady?")

[Techno-Soviet]

I'd do a lmgtfy, but I can't be arsed, so instead I'll just post to inform you that I can't be arsed.

Nah, f*ck it: Let me google that for you.
I find etymonline quite reliable and easy to use if you're interested in etymology. Some online dictionaries have decent etymology sections too and wikipedia is always useful.

Wikipedia failed me today.

[Astralsideria]

I had always assumed it would be something to do with a horned fertility god from the ancient world. Shows what I know, I guess...