gill

gill¹ breathing organ of a fish

Etymology

The breathing organ is inherited from Middle English gille, also gile,^[3][6][7] probably borrowed from Old Norse *gil, a form not recorded but deduced from the modern Scandinavian words.^[1][2] The OED takes it from early Scandinavian, comparing Old Swedish gel (“gill”) and Old Danish gel (“gill”),^[8] and Barnhart, Klein and Collins compare Swedish gäl, Danish gælle and Norwegian gjelle.^[6][7][9] These go back to the same base as Old Norse gjǫlnar, a rare word for whiskers, gills or lips, and Old Danish fiskegæln (“fish gill”).^[8][4][10] Orel puts the Old Norse word under Proto-Germanic *gelunō and compares Ancient Greek χελύνη (khelúnē, “lip, jaw”);^[11] Hoad, Klein and the OED also compare χεῖλος (kheîlos, “lip”), perhaps from the same Indo-European base.^[2][7][8] Etymonline calls the word of unknown origin.^[10] Johnson derived it from Spanish agalla or Latin gula,^[12] and Weekley also compared the Spanish word.^[13]

Earliest recorded meaning

Each of the paired breathing organs of a fish: before 1325, in Walter de Bibbesworth's French glossary.^[8][6] Etymonline dates it to the early 14th century,^[10] and Dictionary.com to 1300–50.^[14]

Semantic evolution

From 1573 gills were used of people, for the flesh under the jaws and ears, or the cheeks;^[8][4] red about the gills (1573) describes someone flushed with drink or anger, and blue about the gills (1665) someone looking ill or low.^[8][4] The word was applied by likeness to the wattles of a turkey or other bird (1596), to the fur from the throat of a mink or marten (1612), to the thin plates under the cap of a mushroom (1672) and to the breathing organs of aquatic invertebrates (1681).^[8][4] In slang the gills were the corners of a high, stiff shirt collar (1826–84),^[8][4] and in aeronautics the hinged flaps behind an air-cooled aircraft engine (1937).^[8] The verb, to gut a fish, is recorded from 1440, and in the United States from 1868 also to catch fish by the gills in a gill net.^[8][4] In Scots and English dialect the gills were the lower jaw, the flesh under the chin, or the mouth.^[15]

Timeline

• before 1325 – the breathing organ of a fish.^[8][6]
• 1440 – verb, to gut a fish.^[8]
• 1573 – of people, the flesh under the jaws and ears.^[8]
• 1596 – the wattles of a bird.^[8]
• 1665 – blue about the gills.^[8]
• 1672 – the plates under the cap of a mushroom.^[8]
• 1681 – the breathing organ of aquatic invertebrates.^[8]
• 1868 – verb, to catch fish by the gills.^[8]
• 1937 – the cooling flaps of an aircraft engine.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. The breathing organ of a fish or other water animal, a series of thin, blood-rich plates or filaments that take oxygen from the water.^[9][3][8]
2. (usually plural) One of the thin radiating plates under the cap of a mushroom.^[9][8][4]
3. (usually plural) The wattles of a bird.^[8][4]
4. (usually plural, informal) The flesh under a person's jaws and ears: He looked a little green about the gills after the ferry crossing.^[8][4]

Verb

1. To gut or clean a fish.^[9][3][8]
2. To catch fish in a gill net, or of fish, to be caught in one.^[9][3][8]

Word family

• gilled
• giller
• gill-less
• gill-like
• gill arch
• book gill
• gill net

gill² liquid measure

Etymology

The measure is inherited from Middle English gille,^[16][2] borrowed from Old French gille, also gelle, a measure or vessel for wine,^{[2][4][17][10]} from Late Latin gillō (“water pot”), also gellō, with Medieval Latin forms gillus and gellus.^[4][2][6] Collins describes the Late Latin vessel as one for cooling liquids, of obscure origin.^[9] The OED and Merriam-Webster instead derive it from Middle French gille or gelle, a vat or tub, probably a variant of jarle, from Latin gerulus (“carrying”),^[8][3] from gerō (“to bear, carry”).^[3] Klein thought the Latin word probably of Semitic origin,^[7] and Weekley suggested a pet name such as Giles or Gill, as with jack and jug.^[13] Etymonline compares gallon.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

A measure for liquids: about 1390, in Langland's Piers Plowman, where Glutton gulps "a galoun and a gille".^[8][16] A London document of 1310 names measures called schopinas et gilles, but it is unclear whether this is English or Anglo-Norman.^[8][16] Barnhart dates the word to 1310,^[6] Etymonline to the late 13th century,^[10] and Dictionary.com to 1225–75.^[14]

Semantic evolution

The size of the measure varied with place and time; it settled at a quarter of a pint, though in many dialects a gill was half a pint.^[8][4][3] Weekley notes that in dialect the gill was half a pint and the jack a quarter.^[13] From about 1425 to 1925 gill also meant a vessel holding that amount.^[8][16] In dialect the word formed compounds such as gill-stoup, a drinking vessel, and gill-wife, an ale-wife,^[15] and in the West Indies it was a name for a small coin, at first a penny (1873).^[18]

Timeline

• 1310 – gilles in a London document, perhaps Anglo-Norman.^[8][6]
• c. 1390 – a measure for liquids.^[8][16]
• c. 1425 – a vessel holding a gill (obsolete by 1925).^[8]
• 1873 – West Indian slang, a small coin.^[18]

Meanings

Noun

1. A unit of liquid capacity equal to a quarter of a pint: in Britain a quarter of an imperial pint, in the United States a quarter of a U.S. liquid pint.^[3][4][8]
2. (dialect, England) Half a pint.^[3][4]

gill³ ravine, stream

Etymology

The ravine is inherited from Middle English gil, also gille,^[16][3] borrowed from Old Norse gil (“ravine, deep glen”).^{[8][2][4][1][17]} The OED compares Faroese gil and Norwegian Nynorsk gil, both meaning ravine, and the cognate Middle High German gil (“hernia”), from a suffixed form of the Germanic base of Old English ginian (“to yawn”).^[8] Merriam-Webster also compares Middle Low German gīl (“throat”) and Old High German gil (“hernia”).^[3] Ayto calls the Norse word of unknown ancestry.^[1] The Middle English word is chiefly northern and north Midland.^[16]

Earliest recorded meaning

A deep rocky cleft or ravine, usually wooded and carrying a stream: about 1440, in The Awntyrs off Arthure.^[8][16] The word appears much earlier in place names, such as Seachregil in Durham (1086, now Scargill),^[8] which Ayto and Hoad date to the 11th century,^[1][2] and in surnames such as Thomas del Gile (1246).^[8] Dictionary.com dates it to 1350–1400.^[14]

Semantic evolution

From 1635 the word was also used of the stream itself, a narrow brook or rivulet.^[8][4][2] It stayed a regional word, used in Scotland and the northern counties of England down to Lancashire.^[15] The spelling ghyll was introduced by Wordsworth in the late 18th century,^[2][4][13] and became common in the Lake District and Northumberland.^[15]

Timeline

• 1086 – in a Durham place name.^[8]
• c. 1440 – a ravine.^[8][16]
• 1635 – a narrow stream.^[8]
• late 18th century – the spelling ghyll, in Wordsworth.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. (British) A narrow, steep-sided, rocky valley or ravine, often wooded and with a stream at the bottom.^[3][8][4]
2. (British) A narrow mountain stream or brook.^[3][8][4]

gill⁴ girl

Etymology

The girl is inherited from Middle English gil, also gille, from Gill, a short form of the woman's name Gillian,^{[16][2][3][19][17]} which comes from French Juliane, from Latin Juliana.^[4][16] It is also spelled jill.^[4][3][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

A woman or girl, often with contempt: before 1425, in "Coueytysse, þat gredy gille".^[16] The name Gille itself appears in Chaucer's Miller's Tale (about 1390).^[16] Hoad and Merriam-Webster date the common noun to the 15th century.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

By 1465 the Paston letters could call a man "a good gille", an agreeable companion.^[16] The name was paired with Jack for any man and woman, as in for Jack nor for Gill, for nobody,^[16] and in Jack and Jill.^[4] The form gill also named the ground ivy (gill-creep-by-ground, late 16th century, dialect) and the female ferret (mid 19th century).^[4][15] Gill-flirt, a giddy young woman, is recorded from the 1630s.^[10]

Timeline

• c. 1390 – Gille as a woman's name, in Chaucer.^[16]
• before 1425 – a woman, girl.^[16]
• late 16th century – ground ivy (dialect).^[4]
• 1630s – gill-flirt, a giddy young woman.^[10]
• mid 19th century – a female ferret.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. (archaic, often capitalized) A girl or young woman; a sweetheart, usually paired with Jack.^[3][4][16]
2. (dialect) The ground ivy.^[3][4][15]

Word family

• gill-over-the-ground