gigue

English

Etymology

From French gigue. Doublet of jig.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʒiːɡ/
• Rhymes: -iːɡ

Noun

gigue (plural gigues)

1. an Irish dance, derived from the jig, used in the Partita form (Baroque Period).
   • 1922, E[ric] R[ücker] Eddison, The Worm Ouroboros‎^[1], London: Jonathan Cape, page 33:

     […] sweet to us it is to behold delightful dancing, be it the stately splendour of the Pavane which progresseth as large clouds at sun-down that pass by in splendour; or the graceful Allemande; or the Fandango, which goeth by degrees from languorous beauty to the swiftness and passion of Bacchanals dancing on the high lawns under a summer moon that hangeth in the pine trees; or the joyous maze of the Galliard; or the Gigue, dear to the Foliots.

Anagrams

• guige

French

Etymology

From Old French gige, gigue (“a fiddle, kind of dance”), from Frankish *gīge (“dance, fiddle”), from Proto-Germanic *gīganą (“to move, wish, desire”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰeyǵʰ-, *gʰeygʰ- (“to yawn, gape, long for, desire”). More at gig, geg, jig.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʒiɡ/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

gigue f (plural gigues)

1. (music) string instrument, roughly in the form of a mandoline (c. 1120–50)
2. (dance) lively and gay dance originary from the British Isles, gigue, jig
3. (music) musical melody, to be danced in the way of a gigue
4. (informal) long leg, tall and skinny girl, haunch of some animals especially venison (19th century)
5. (colloquial) disorderly way of dancing (danser la gigue), twerk of the hips (gigue des fesses; early 20th century)
6. a small boat, gig
7. (telecommunications) jitter

Derived terms

• gigolette

Descendants

• → English: gigue

Further reading

• “gigue”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.