Special friendships

I am having a protracted debate with a friend about the expression "special friendship." He maintains that it has an understood pederastic meaning clear enough that it merits inclusion in a glossary of pederastic words and expressions. He seems to assume it must be a school friendship and he wonders if it need be or was expected to be one between boys of different ages. He thinks the answer to this should be reflected in a glossary definition. I, on the other hand, think "special friendship" means simply a friendship that is special in whatever sense the speaker wants it to mean, any understanding he gets from others by using it resting entirely on common sympathies and intuition. I don't think it can be said to have a precise pederastic sense and I doubt it should therefore be in a glossary. Or at most it should be there with a definition like "romantic friendship; sometimes used for one between a boy and an older male." Does anyone here have an opinion on this? Also, does anyone have any information as to the early use of the expression in English with at least a homoromantic meaning? The earliest use I can think of right now is the first translation into English of Roger Peyrefitte's Les Amitiés Particulières in 1950, but perhaps it is much older than that. www.amazon.com/dp/1481222112