And finally

1. Etymology and origin.

The various words for the dance form known as the jig or gigue have rather confused histories that in turn have led to confusion about the origins of the musical form. In French, Italian and German, the word seems to be derived from a medieval word for fiddle (as in Dante, Paradiso, xiv.110: 'E come giga ed arpa in tempratesa, Di molte corde, fan dolce tintinno'), a word also used to refer to the musician who played such a fiddle (see Gigue (ii)). The usage survives in modern German as Geige (violin), a survival that has contributed most to past uncertainty about the gigue's origin. It is now believed that if the English word came from the Continent, it came not from gigue or fiddle but rather from the verb 'giguer', to frolic, leap or gambol. Although no choreographies have survived for the 16th-century jig, contemporary literary references suggest that jigs were fast pantomimic dances for one or more soloists with lively rhythms created by virtuoso footwork, and that they were somewhat bawdy (Shakespeare, Much Ado about Nothing, Act 2 scene i: 'Wooing is hot and hasty like a Scottish jigge'). Dean-Smith pointed out that the word 'jig' may have derived from slang in a manner similar to the more recent evolution of the word 'jazz', becoming a generic term encompassing many forms of non-aristocratic music and dance. As with the first American meaning of the slang 'jass', most 16th-century connotations of the English word 'jig' were vulgar.


So there you have it.