gal English · revision 39496

+ English has two words spelled ''gal'': an informal word for a girl, which represents a pronunciation of [[girl]], and a unit of acceleration named after Galileo.^(AHD 2024)^(OED 2026)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ɡæl/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ {{homograph|1|girl}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|attested=1795, B. Dearborn, Columbian Grammar}}

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The girl is a spelling of a colloquial or regional pronunciation of [[girl]], American or southern English;^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline)^(SOED 2002)^(MWU 2024) compare [[gell]], the 19th-century literary form of the northern English variant.^(Etymonline)^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A girl or woman: 1795, when Benjamin Dearborn's ''Columbian Grammar'' listed ''gal'' for ''girl'' among vulgarisms.^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline)^(GDoS)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ According to Dalzell, it was noted as Cockney in 1824 but rose socially until it was quite upper-class by about 1840; from about 1850 it could mean a servant girl or a prostitute, and by about 1860 a sweetheart.^(Dalzell 2013) It was current in American jazz and jive talk in the 1930s, and by about 2000 it sounded patronising or kitsch.^(Dalzell 2013) The Shorter Oxford labels it slang and dialect, now chiefly North American.^(SOED 2002) In the United States ''to go gallin''' meant to go courting, from 1840,^(GDoS) and ''g'hal'' was the girlfriend of a ''b'hoy'' in 1849.^(Etymonline) ''Gal Friday'', after ''Robinson Crusoe'', dates from 1940.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1795 – listed as a vulgarism (Dearborn).^(OED 2026)^(GDoS)

+ * 1824 – noted as Cockney.^(Dalzell 2013)

+ * 1840 – ''go gallin''', to go courting (US).^(GDoS)

+ * c. 1850 – a servant girl; a prostitute.^(Dalzell 2013)

+ * c. 1860 – a sweetheart.^(Dalzell 2013)

+ * 1940 – ''Gal Friday''.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(informal)'' A girl or woman.^(Collins 2023)^(MWU 2024)^(SOED 2002)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[gal pal]]

+

+ {{homograph|2|unit of acceleration}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=eponym|attested=1914, O. Klotz in Nature}}

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The unit is named after the Italian astronomer and physicist Galileo Galilei (died 1642),^(MWU 2024)^(OED 2026)^(AHD 2024)^(Collins 2023) as a shortening of his name.^(SOED 2002)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A unit of acceleration, used for the force of gravity, equal to one centimetre per second per second: 1914, in Otto Klotz's letter to ''Nature''.^(OED 2026)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1914 – the unit (Klotz, ''Nature'').^(OED 2026)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(physics)'' A unit of [[acceleration]] equal to one centimetre per second per second, used especially in measuring [[gravity]].^(MWU 2024)^(Collins 2023)^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[milligal]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[girl]]

+ * [[gell]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}