gargantuan English · revision 2199

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ɡɑːˈɡæn.t͡ʃu.ən/ ''(UK)''; /ɡɑɹˈɡæn.t͡ʃu.ən/ ''(US)''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|en|Gargantua|-an]],^(Barnhart 1995)^(RHWU) after Gargantua, the huge, voracious giant in the satirical novels of the French writer Rabelais.^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate) The name is supposedly from Spanish and Portuguese ''garganta'' “throat, gullet”,^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline) which is from the same imitative root as ''gargle''.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Enormous, gigantic (1596).^(Barnhart 1995)^(MW Collegiate) Etymonline dates it to the 1590s.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The adjective first alluded to the giant and his appetite,^(Wiktionary)^(Etymonline) and generalized to anything tremendous in size, volume or degree.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1596 – enormous, in allusion to Gargantua.^(Barnhart 1995)^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Of immense size, volume or degree; gigantic, colossal.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[gargle]]

+ * [[gargoyle]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}