giga

Forms

giga f (plural gigas)^[1]

Etymology

The word for the dance, first the name of a stringed instrument, is borrowed from Old French gigue (“fiddle”).^[2][3][1] Corominas thinks the French word probably comes from Old High German gīga (“fiddle”) (modern German Geige), related to a Germanic and French verb meaning “to sway, swing”.^[2] He reports Bloch's doubt whether it is a Romance word in Germanic or a Germanic one in French, since it appears in both languages at the same time, in the 12th century, and the verb giguer (“to jump”) is widespread in the French dialects; it may be an expressive creation in both families, and needs further study.^[2] The DRAE of 2001 gives the same chain with “perhaps” before the German word, and the DLE now gives no etymology.^[3][4] Wiktionary instead derives Old French gige and its variant spelt ⟨-gue⟩ from Frankish *gīge (“dance, fiddle”), from Proto-Germanic *gīganą (“to move”).^[1]

The name later passed to a dance, as in modern French and in English jig.^[2] The dance French gigue was itself borrowed in 1650 from the English word, which may go back to the Old French name of the instrument.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word first appears in Berceo, for a stringed instrument played by minstrels: in the Duelo de la Virgen they go tocando instrumentes, cedras, rotas e gigas “playing instruments, citterns, rotes and fiddles”.^[2][6][7] Berceo's poems survive in 18th-century copies of older manuscripts.^[6] The Libro de Alexandre (1240–1250, in an early 15th-century copy) and the Libro de Apolonio also name it among the instruments of the juglares.^[2][6][8]

Semantic evolution

The medieval instrument went out of use, and the word returned with the sense of a dance.^[2] The Academy's dictionary of 1817 defines it as a kind of lively, quick music and the dance danced to it.^[9] Alemany (1917) describes it as an old dance in six-eight time with a quick air and marks the instrument sense as antiquated, as the DLE still does.^[10][4] Vox calls it an old dance from Ireland, widespread in the 17th and 18th centuries, which with the zarabanda became part of the instrumental suite.^[11]

Timeline

• c. 1240 – first record, in Berceo, for a stringed instrument.^[2][6]
• 1240–1250 – the Libro de Alexandre names the giga among the minstrels' instruments.^[6]
• 1817 – the Academy's dictionary defines it as a lively music and its dance.^[9]
• 1917 – Alemany describes the dance in six-eight time and marks the instrument as antiquated.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. (music) A jig, gigue: an old lively dance in six-eight time.^[4][11][1]
2. The music for this dance, often the last movement of a suite: La orquesta cerró el concierto con una giga.^[4][11]
3. (historical) An old stringed instrument, a kind of fiddle.^[4][12][2]

Related words

• gigote
• French gigue
• English jig
• German Geige

Usage notes

A separate masculine giga (pronounced /ˈʝiɡa/) is a clipping of gigabyte, used in computing.^[4][1] It is first recorded in 1996 in the Diario de Yucatán, there with the feminine article, and entered the DLE in 2014.^[13] The forms guiga and yiga are also found.^[1] Corominas treats gigote “minced meat stew” as a borrowing of French gigot “leg of mutton”, ultimately from the verb giguer.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 148
3. ^ a b Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. giga
4. ^ a b c d e f Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. giga
5. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. gigue
6. ^ a b c d e Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. giga
7. ^ Cejador y Frauca, Julio (1929), Vocabulario medieval castellano, Madrid: Librería y Casa Editorial Hernando, p. 236
8. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. giga
9. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 442
10. ^ a b Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 833
11. ^ a b c Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. giga
12. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. giga
13. ^ Real Academia Española (2013–), Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (DHLE), https://www.rae.es/dhle, p. s.v. giga