Meaning ‘wimp’ or other non-macho put-down. I’m writing something set in 1963, and can’t quite figure out if the term was in general circulation. If not, what would have been the term of art in 1963?
According to etymonline, it is attested as slang from — wait for it — 1963:
Meaning “ineffectual person, effeminate young man” is slang from 1963; pejorative sense via penis shape, or perhaps from weenie in the sense of “small” (see wee).
Often, the earliest cite of a word means it had already been around for a year or two or so before it wound up in print.
FWIW, the way ‘weinie’ is spelled in the title, it would be pronounced ‘winey’. As pulykamell’s link points out, ‘weenie’ is short for ‘frankfurter’. In America, ‘frankfurters’ and ‘wieners’ are the same thing. According to this page:
Head to an authentic German sausage shop and you’ll see two different sausages: wieners and frankfurters. Frankfurters are made entirely with pork, and wieners are a mixture of pork and beef. And as the names might imply, frankfurters originated in Frankfurt and wieners from Vienna. To make things even more confusing: in the U.S., “franks” tend to be all beef.
The German name for Vienna is Wien; hence, Wiener Würstchen. So if you’re talking about a hot dog, the spelling would be ‘wienie’.
There’s a hot dog place in Bellingham called Neiner Neiner Weiner. I always pronounce it ‘Niner Niner Whiner’. 
George Lucas used it in American Graffiti(73’) which was supposed to be set in the summer of 62’
Thank you! It drives me crazy when people spell it with an “ei,” which, in Germanic words, is always pronounced with a long I sound.
