giddy

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈɡɪd.i/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English gidi (“mad, foolish”),^[2][3][4][5] inherited from Old English gidig, a variant of gydig “insane, possessed”,^{[2][3][6][4][5]} probably from Proto-Germanic *gudigaz (“possessed by a god”), from the same root as god.^{[2][3][6][4][5]}

Earliest recorded meaning

Mad, insane, foolish (about 1000).^[7][3][6]

Semantic evolution

The word first meant possessed by a spirit, and so mad.^[2][6] In Middle English it also meant foolish, unstable and dizzy.^[2] The sense “elated, thoughtless” is from the 1540s,^[6][7] and that of having a whirling sensation in the head from 1570.^[7][6] The American Heritage Dictionary calls the modern sense “lighthearted, frivolous” the final secularization of a word once tied to possession by a god.^[2]

Timeline

• about 1000 – mad, possessed.^[7][3][6]
• before 1547 – elated to thoughtlessness.^[7][6]
• 1570 – dizzy.^[7][6]
• 1585 – causing dizziness.^[7]
• 1602 – verb, to make giddy.^[7][4]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Feeling dizzy and light-headed.
2. Causing dizziness, as a height.
3. Frivolous and lighthearted; flighty.
4. Joyfully excited; elated.

Verb

1. To make or become giddy.

Word family

• giddily
• giddiness

Related words

• god
• dizzy

Usage notes

The American Heritage Dictionary groups giddy, dizzy and vertiginous as meaning “producing a whirling sensation and a tendency to fall”.^[2] Random House gives unstable, volatile, fickle and inconstant as synonyms of the frivolous sense.^[5]

References

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