"G" Word Origins

gobbledygook

Origin

First attested in a memo by US Representative (Texas) Maury Maverick dated March 30, 1944, banning "gobbledygook language". Apparently coined in imitation of the sounds made by a turkey.

gobby

Origin

From gob (“lump”) + -y.

Gobi

Origin

From the Mongolian word for a waterless, semi-desert area.

goblet

Old French

From Old French gobelet, a diminutive related to the verb gober ("to swallow").

goblin

Origin

From Middle English gobelyn, from Old Northern French gobelin (compare Norman goubelin, Walloon gobelin), possibly a blend of Old Dutch *kobeholdo (“goblin”) (compare Dutch kabouter, German Kobold) and Late Latin cobalus (“mountain sprite”), from Ancient Greek κόβαλος (kóbalos, “rogue, knave; goblin”). Displaced native Old English pūca from Proto-Germanic *pūkô (“a goblin, spook”), whence English puck.

god

Old English

From Old English god, an ancient Germanic word originally neuter in gender before shifting to masculine as Christianity spread — it is not related to the unrelated word "good," despite the similarity.

god-fearing

English

A compound of God and fearing, using fear in its older sense of awe and reverence rather than fright.

Goda

Origin

* As a Hungarian and Slovak surname, from the personal name Goda, formed from Proto-Slavic *goditi (“to please”). This is also Germanized from the Sorbian form, see Goede. * As a Japanese surname, from 合田.

Godard

Germanic

Of Germanic origin, related to the surname Goddard.

Godavari

Sanskrit

From Sanskrit गोदावरी (godāvarī).

godchild

Origin

From god- + child.

goddam

French

Borrowed back into French from the English oath "God damn," supposedly because English soldiers swore it so often that the French started using it as a label for them.

goddammit

Origin

A run-together spelling of "God damn it," squeezed into one word the way it actually gets said out loud.

goddamn

Origin

Formed from "God" and "damn" — originally a genuine plea for divine punishment on someone, now used mainly as a raw expression of emotion rather than a literal curse.

Goddard

German

From Old High German got ("God") and harti ("hard, strong").

goddaughter

Old English

From Old English goddohtor, a straightforward compound of god and daughter.

goddess

Middle English · 1350

From Middle English goddesse, simply god plus the feminine ending -ess, first recorded around 1350.

godfather

Old English

From Old English godfaeder, a compound of god and father.

godfearing

Origin

From god + fearing, likely an alteration of Middle English goddfrihti (“god-fearing”, literally “god-frighty”) and god-friht (“god-fearing”) (whence modern English god-fright), from Old English godfyrht (“god-fearing”). Compare Old High German gotforht (“god-fearing”).

godforsaken

Origin

Literally "abandoned by God," from god plus forsaken; the literal religious meaning gave way to a general sense of bleakness and desolation.

Godfrey

German

From Old High German Godafrid ("peace of God"). A doublet of Geoffrey and Gottfried.

godhead

Origin

From Middle English Godhede, equivalent to God + -head (“-hood”). Doublet of godhead.

Godiva

Latin

A Latinised form of Old English Godġifu, literally "God gift."

godless

Origin

A straightforward compound of god and the suffix -less ("without").

godlike

Origin

A compound of god and -like.

godliness

Origin

Formed from godly plus the noun-forming suffix -ness.

godlore

Origin

From god + lore (“learning, study of”). Compare German Gotteslehre, Danish gudelære.

godly

Origin

From god plus the adjectival suffix -ly.

godmother

Old English

From Old English godmodor, a compound of god and mother.

godown

Malay

Borrowed from Malay gudang, itself from a Tamil or Telugu word for a storeroom.

gods

Origin

A cheeky nickname for the upper gallery, as if the people sitting way up there were looking down like gods on Olympus.

godsend

Origin

Originally meant literally "sent by God" — something so perfectly timed it felt like divine help.

godsent

Origin

From God + sent.

godship

Origin

From god + -ship.

godsib

Origin

Learned borrowing from Middle English godsib; doublet of gossip; see those entries for more.

godson

Old English

From Old English godsunu, literally "god-son" — a son in a spiritual rather than a blood sense.

Godspeed

Origin

Squeezed together from the old phrase "God speed you," where "speed" meant "help you succeed," not "move fast."

Godwin

Origin · 1990

Named after American attorney Mike Godwin, who first described the online pattern in the early 1990s.

Godzilla

Japanese · 1954

From Japanese Gojira, a blend of gorira ("gorilla") and kujira ("whale"), invented for the 1954 film.

Goebbels

German

From German Goebbels.

goes

Dutch

Either from Dutch Goes, a city in Zeeland, or Portuguese Góis, a place name.

Goethe

German

Borrowed from German Goethe.

goety

Origin

From Latin goetia, from Ancient Greek γοητεία (goēteía, “witchcraft”), from γόης (góēs, “sorceror”).

goff

Old French

Related to the old French word goffe, meaning "clumsy" or "ill-made," and similar dialect words in Italian, Spanish, and German for a blockhead or fool.

gog

Origin

Likely from agog; it appeared first as on gog. Attested from the 16th to 18th centuries. Compare French gogue (“sprightliness”), and Welsh gogi (“to agitate, shake”).

goggle

Origin

From 14th century Middle English gogelen (“to roll (eyes), to look sideways”). Earlier source is unknown. The noun is attested from the 17th century. Compare Irish gog (“a nod, a slight motion”).

goggles

Origin

Comes from "goggle," describing the wide, staring look the eyewear gives the wearer.

gogo

Origin

The "grandmother" sense comes from Zulu ugogo, meaning grandmother; the hair-band sense is a separate, unrelated use of the same spelling.