origin of the word "GIG"

[kencasino]

Anyone have an idea where the word came from?

I was asked at a gig the other night and couldn't come up with anything from any one of us band guys

[JoZac21]

I always assumed it comes from the word "gigue" (also the origin of "jig")... I'd love to know the answer as well... interesting question.

[Chunk-O-Funk]

Beats me. I just know I ain't got one.


Found this Wiki.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gig_%28...performance%29

According to Richard Digance on UK TV Channel 4's Countdown, this definition derives from a small carriage in New Orleans, Louisiana known as a gig, where black musicians could perform, so they would not be arrested for playing on the street.

[bongomania]

Actually its origin is unknown. There are a few speculations:
-"Jig"--the Irish dance;
-"Gigue", "giga", "geige", "guiga", "ghige"--various old European language names for a fiddle;
-"Gigues", "gikkr", "giggy", "giglot"--various old European terms for a lively or wanton girl.

...But they are just speculations.

Edit: I was not aware that there was a time when black musicians in N.O. would ride around performing in carriages to avoid being arrested. I'm not saying it didn't happen, just that I never heard of it before.

[Dr_Funkdamental]

Originally Posted by bongomania

Edit: I was not aware that there was a time when black musicians in N.O. would ride around performing in carriages to avoid being arrested. I'm not saying it didn't happen, just that I never heard of it before.

You'd be surprised at similar stories to this.

[Munjibunga]

It comes from stabbing frogs with one of these:

[chuck3]

you stab these with those?

[Munjibunga]

LOL. Maybe someone could photoshop that.

[lunarpollen]

I've heard it many times used as a reference to a job, a routine, an act, etc. Not just for a musical performance.

[the yeti]

i don't have one handy, but the oxford unabridged dictionary will probably solve the mystery.

[Hoover]

It's short for "giggity-giggity"

[Rickett Customs]

During the Depression in 1920s America, paid performances for blues musicians were hard to come by and when one came along, apparently 'God Is Good' was the phrase uttered by many of them. Hence the acronym 'GIG'.


But there are 50 million slants to the word for sure.

[kencasino]

found this on line:

A Groovy Gig

Dear Evan: Where does the word "gig," meaning a musician's engagement, come from? -- John Guthrie, New York City.

One of the funny things about slang is that while many terms last but a summer's day, figuratively speaking, others just seem to go on and on. "Groovy," for instance, has had at least three incarnations. First heard as a jazz musicians' term of approval in the 1950's, "groovy" later became perhaps the most widely known, and parodied, exclamation of the hippie era, but fell into disuse after about 1970. Now it seems that "groovy" has surfaced again in the lingo of youth, which is good news for those of us who forgot to stop saying it in 1970.

"Gig," on the other hand, has remained in fairly constant use since it first appeared in its slang sense among jazz musicians in the mid-1920's. Meaning, as you say, a musician's "date" or engagement to play, "gig" is actually both a noun and a verb, though it's more common to hear a musician speak of "playing a gig" than "gigging." Though a "steady gig" is prized in the notoriously unpredictable life of a musician, the word itself carries overtones of the short-term "one-night stand." Reflecting its roots in jazz, "gig" is almost exclusively used by jazz, pop or rock musicians -- cellists play recitals or engagements, not "gigs."

Most dictionaries say that the origin of "gig" in this sense is unknown, but it really doesn't seem that great a mystery. Appearing in English in the 15th century, "gig" meant something that spins, as in "whirligig." Subsequent meanings included "joke," "merriment" and (aha!) "dance." Since playing at parties and dances is every musician's meal ticket early in their career, it's easy to see how "gig" became generalized to mean any paying job.

[SelenaBassGirl]

Originally Posted by lunarpollen

I've heard it many times used as a reference to a job, a routine, an act, etc. Not just for a musical performance.

Me too.
I always used to use that term for just when you perform with a band somewhere but my boyfriend kept calling all jobs a gig. Of course his job is performing in a band every weekend but he refers that term to "working no matter what you are doing-waitressing, running a register, nursing, it's all a 'gig' "

[bongomania]

Originally Posted by Dr_Funkdamental

You'd be surprised at similar stories to this.

I would not be at all surprised by other stories of racism. I'm asking about this specific claim. Do you know anything about it, or are you just saying "there has been a lot of racism"?

[cardboardJoe]

How about "Generic Income Generator"

[bassybill]

I'd always understood it to be a corruption of "engagement". But I don't think that's certain, by any stretch of the imagination.

[Prodigal Son]

Bassybill you are the winner. Thats what I have heard in the past and it makes perfect sense to me. Engagement is a word that has long been and continues to be used to denote situations of this type in many kinds of business. If you're looking at that word written down in a contract, newspaper or something and are going to shorten it for casual conversation, "gag" stands out but that has negative connotations so it becomes "gig". I hold no definitive proof, but every other explanation to me seems to be a stretch compared to this.