gargoyle

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈɡɑːɡɔɪl/ (UK); /ˈɡɑɹɡɔɪl/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

From Middle English gargoile, gargule,^[2][3][4][5] borrowed from Old French gargouille (“throat; waterspout”), gargole, gargoule,^[3][6][2][5] compare Medieval Latin gargola, gargulio.^[2] It is related to gargle.^[6][2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The carved mouth of a rain spout:^[2] a spout shaped like a grotesque human or animal figure, projecting from the gutter of a building to throw rainwater clear of the wall.^[7][4][2]

Semantic evolution

Gargoyles were common on buildings of the 13th to 16th centuries.^[2] The word was extended from the spout itself to any grotesquely carved figure on a building,^[3][4][5] to a projection that looks like a gargoyle (1887),^[7] and to a person with an ugly or grotesque face.^[3][4]

Timeline

• 1286 – gargurl;^[6] the OED and Merriam-Webster date the word to the 13th century, Etymonline to the late 13th century.^[7][4][2]
• 1363 – the form gargoille.^[6]
• 1528 – attributive uses such as gargoyle-face.^[7]
• 1887 – a projection resembling a gargoyle.^[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A waterspout carved as a grotesque human or animal figure, projecting from a roof gutter to carry rainwater away from the wall.
2. Any grotesque carved figure or ornamental projection.
3. A person of ugly or grotesque appearance.

Word family

• gargoyled
• gargoylism

References

1. [1] Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. [1] [2] [3] [4] The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
4. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. [1] [2] [3] [4] Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
6. [1] [2] [3] [4] Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
7. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press