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Origin of verb 'to gig?'
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Subject: RE: Origin of verb 'to gig?' From: Remi From Paris Date: 04 Jan 00 - 09:58 PM In French the "jig" - danced throughout Europe is spelled "Gigue". Might be an origin of the word... |
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Subject: RE: Origin of verb 'to gig?' From: Brendy Date: 04 Jan 00 - 09:24 PM I'm from the North, and sometimes it would be referred to a 'Gee', the 'G' as in GO! Probably more dialectic than anything else, really. However me oul' boy used to ask me if I had a 'jig' tonight (pronounced as spelt). I thought he was just trying to be 'hip' to the lingo. Should have asked him really. 'Fanny' is indeed the 'Gee'. Maybe it's called 'Gee' because that may well be what one would say upon viewing it! B. |
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Subject: RE: Origin of verb 'to gig?' From: JedMarum Date: 04 Jan 00 - 09:12 PM interesting turn of commentary in this thread! but I can't add to the learned comments on vulva, vagina, fanny or other such bits of interest ... but I had always presumed that 'gig' was short for engagement, as has been cited by several others above. It makes sense. |
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Subject: RE: Origin of verb 'to gig?' From: DougR Date: 04 Jan 00 - 09:04 PM Garg: I have been led to believe that in Ireland the slang word for the part of the female anatomy is "Gee" pronounced with a hard "G". Would any of our Mudcat friends in Ireland set me and Gargoyle straight? DougR WW: Sorry I strayed from your original question. |
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Subject: RE: Origin of verb 'to gig?' From: _gargoyle Date: 04 Jan 00 - 09:03 PM It appears that whole English speaking world is bass-side-ackwards when it comes to vulgar slang.
Another lifetime ago, ..... |
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Subject: RE: Origin of verb 'to gig?' From: Jon Freeman Date: 04 Jan 00 - 08:46 PM Emily, as far as I'm aware,"fanny" means "vagina" in the whole of the UK - it certainly would be taken to mean that in North Wales where I live. Jon |
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Subject: RE: Origin of verb 'to gig?' From: emily rain Date: 04 Jan 00 - 08:37 PM gargoyle, i'm told that although "fanny" means "arse" in america, it means "vagina" in ireland. go figure. |
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Subject: RE: Origin of verb 'to gig?' From: emily rain Date: 04 Jan 00 - 08:31 PM oh dear, i SO don't want to be the nasty letch who read this thread and fixated on the sexual reference... but i have to know... is "giggy" as in vulva pronounced with an initial g as in "go" or g as in "giraffe"? i'm wondering if it's related to the slang phrase "to get jiggy". please understand, my curiosity is purely academic. |
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Subject: RE: Origin of verb 'to gig?' From: _gargoyle Date: 04 Jan 00 - 08:25 PM The Random House Dictionary of Historical American Slang1996, v.I, pp 890-891, gives detailed definitions with examples of usage for the word "gig", (1.5 pages very small print, very big pages. too much to post) in general chronological order of their appearance:
1. the vagina [orig. unkn] 1698-99
Personal notes: Surprised at the French #1-2 (I thought it was only the Greeks) that confused a vagina and an anus.
Texas A&M uses the expression "Gig em' Aggies" at football games….their use is derived from the military heritage…..ie. unpolished shoes, or an un-buttoned button is a "gig-point." aka demerit, black-mark.
BTW --- WW --- I have wonderful memories of the Santa Fe Opera (before enclosure) and a "Flying Dutchman" performance, the natural elements added their own spectacular effects with wind, lightning, lots of lightning, and a little rain.
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Subject: RE: Origin of verb 'to gig?' From: Caitrin Date: 04 Jan 00 - 07:36 PM Out here on the Carolina Coast, we also have Flounder gigging (to go along with Frog Gigging) but it doesn't have anything to do with music, either. At least, not much. |
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Subject: RE: Origin of verb 'to gig?' From: Date: 04 Jan 00 - 06:09 PM Random House, 1966 says,
1)light boat; light one-horse carriage; to ride in a gig [ME gigge, gig flighty girl,?
2) spearlike device from fizgig
3) an official report of a minor infraction of regulations, as in school, the army, etc.
4) the term we all know from jazz
gigue (zh-long e g) a dance, jig, often forming the concluding movement in the classical suite [F, also < It. giga, orig., a fiddle or lute)
From a modern French dictionary, gigue is a haunch of venison; (coll) leg; (slang)long-legged gawky girl |
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Subject: RE: Origin of verb 'to gig?' From: stupidbodhranplayerwhodoesn'tknowanybetter Date: 04 Jan 00 - 05:56 PM There is some speculation that the term "jig" came from an old French term 'gigue' or something like that. I don't know if there is a connection, but to many old folk musicians, dances were their only paid perfomances, therefore would be a "gig". Slan, Rich |
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Subject: RE: Origin of verb 'to gig?' From: Gary T Date: 03 Jan 00 - 09:00 PM Well, it's been alluded to but not said directly--"gig", so I've been told, is short for "engagement", obviously coming from the accented "-gage-" syllable. It thus started out as a noun, but over the years also acquired verb status. Since I don't have any written sources to back this up, I can only make the case by appealing to logic--there are any number of words that have mutated over time, usually getting shortened to accomodate the laziness of human nature, and jazz musicians as a group were probably not overly compulsive about precise diction. Makes sense to me, anyway. |
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Subject: RE: Origin of verb 'to gig?' From: Jon Freeman Date: 03 Jan 00 - 08:54 PM My dictionary (Chambers 20th Century English) has 2 entries for gig. The first, a flighty girl, a light 2 wheeled carrage, a long light boat and a machine for separating the nap from cloth, is given as being derived from Middle English gigge (a whilrling thing). The second entry is for the noun and the verb as in a band playing and it says that the etymology is unknown. Jon |
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Subject: RE: Origin of verb 'to gig?' From: WyoWoman Date: 03 Jan 00 - 08:53 PM I mean O'Connor. Whoops. |
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Subject: RE: Origin of verb 'to gig?' From: WyoWoman Date: 03 Jan 00 - 08:51 PM It's ok. This is an inquiry. The fun is in the process, not the product. I like the nautical interpretation -- I was all set to go with RiB's, until I read that one. Although, it probably does have more to do with dancin' than sailin'. Still, let's see what other theories are posited... It does seem to me that it's entered the common lexicon more recently. It used to be that the only people you ever heard refer to gig were musicians. (And I worked for years for the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival -- many of the musicians most certainly did refer to their work as "gigs" -- but then, some of them also worked in other genres as well, e.g. Mark Conner, Edgar Meyer...) ww ww |
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Subject: RE: Origin of verb 'to gig?' From: jeffp Date: 03 Jan 00 - 08:41 PM Just to stir the imagination a bit. Could there be a possible connection to the term gigue? I remember this from my classical music days (I originally studied trombone and received a classical music education), but don't remember what it meant (the 60s were hard on us all). I have no idea if it's relevant, but can't resist posting. Somebody stop me please, before I post again! |
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Subject: RE: Origin of verb 'to gig?' From: Dave ( the ancient mariner) Date: 03 Jan 00 - 08:41 PM Landlubbers, Gig is a small boat, usually the captains boat for getting ashore from anchorage. The crew were carefully selected, because the boats condition and appearance usually gave the first good impression to people ashore. Hence a "good Gig" was a credit to her ship. A good Gigs crew were the best sailors on the ship. Musicians may have adapted the word Gig for a Small job from the sailors Gig I do not profess to know but posted this in case there is a connection. Yours, Aye. Dave |
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Subject: RE: Origin of verb 'to gig?' From: Roger in Baltimore Date: 03 Jan 00 - 08:36 PM WW, This may be the definitive information. It is provided by The Word Detective aka Evan Morris who's column appears in "finer newspapers." Obviously, they have excluded your newpaper. What's that mean?
At his web site he says the following:
"Gig," on the other hand, has remained in fairly constant use since it first appeared in its slang sense among jazz musicians in the mid-1920's. Meaning, as you say, a musician's "date" or engagement to play, "gig" is actually both a noun and a verb, though it's more common to hear a musician speak of "playing a gig" than "gigging." Though a "steady gig" is prized in the notoriously unpredictable life of a musician, the word itself carries overtones of the short-term "one-night stand." Reflecting its roots in jazz, "gig" is almost exclusively used by jazz, pop or rock musicians -- cellists play recitals or engagements, not "gigs."
Most dictionaries say that the origin of "gig" in this sense is unknown, but it really doesn't seem that great a mystery. Appearing in English in the 15th century, "gig" meant something that spins, as in "whirligig." Subsequent meanings included "joke," "merriment" and (aha!) "dance." Since playing at parties and dances is every musician's meal ticket early in their career, it's easy to see how "gig" became generalized to mean any paying job.
This information comes to you courtesy of a quick search on excite.com by Roger in Baltimore |
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Subject: RE: Origin of verb 'to gig?' From: WyoWoman Date: 03 Jan 00 - 08:29 PM Oh, my lord. Well ... uh ... I guess on one level EVERYthign comes down to sex -- certainly with musicians. But, I certainly can't think of the connection, unless it derived from streetwalkers and musicians simply adopted the word for their own form of "prostitution." (Hey, I have a fertile imagination.)
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Subject: RE: Origin of verb 'to gig?' From: Roger in Baltimore Date: 03 Jan 00 - 08:19 PM WW, We are on the chase. You asked about the verb "to gig". It clearly comes from the noun "gig" defined above.
Murray L. Pfeffer says on his web site in discussing gig's entomology says, Of course, you may have already guessed that someone would throw sex into the issue. If the latter statement is true, what does it have to do with a job? Roger in Baltimore |
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Subject: RE: Origin of verb 'to gig?' From: WyoWoman Date: 03 Jan 00 - 08:17 PM Well, I know the definition, but I don't know how it came to be what it is, don' cha' know. (And yes, in my youth, the only gigging I knew applied to frogs and it wasn't very friendly, from a frog's point of view...) In the "gig from Hell" thread, it seemed as though an equal number of postings came from our neighbors in other countries, so I wondered if it was an American jazz word that's made it around the world, or if it was a British term that bounced over here... ww |
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Subject: RE: Origin of verb 'to gig?' From: Roger in Baltimore Date: 03 Jan 00 - 08:06 PM The American Heritage Dictionary says "A job, especially a booking for a jazz musician." Perhaps that provides a lead on where to look. Roger in Baltimore |
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Subject: RE: Origin of verb 'to gig?' From: Richard Bridge Date: 03 Jan 00 - 08:04 PM I think (which means I don't know) it originated from the light and cheap horsedrawn carriage of the same name. All musicians could afford you see. |
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Subject: RE: Origin of verb 'to gig?' From: charcloth Date: 03 Jan 00 - 07:55 PM It sure didn't come from frogs! |
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Subject: Origin of verb 'to gig?' From: WyoWoman Date: 03 Jan 00 - 06:37 PM Does anyone know where this word came from and when? Tx/ww |
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