Giltspur Street. Said to have received its name from the gilt spurs of the knights riding to the tournaments in Smithfield. The greater probability is that the makers of gilt spurs congregated in this street.
Gimnal Ring. A love token of bygone days, so called from the Latin gemellus, joined. This ring was composed of two separate bands fitted into each other with little teeth. When lovers were betrothed it was divided, only to be put together again at the nuptial ceremony.
Gin. Short for Geneva. Not after Geneva in Switzerland, because this is the national spirituous drink of the Dutch, called at first by them giniva, from the French genievre, juniper. Juniper berries were originally employed to flavour the spirit distilled from unmalted rye. The native name for Dutch gin is now Schiedam, after the town where it is made. Dutch gin brought to England is called Hollands.
Ginger. Red-haired people are said to be ginger because Guinevre, the Queen at the Court of King Arthur, had red hair.
Gingham. A corruption of Guingamp in Brittany, where the cotton stuff brought from Java, there called gingang, was dyed and made into umbrella covers before silk and alpaca came into use for this purpose. Hence the slang term for an umbrella. See “[Gamp].”
Gin Sling. An American drink composed of equal parts of gin and water. See “[Sling].”
Gipsies. A corruption of Egyptians, because, when first heard of in Europe, they spread themselves over Bohemia, and were thought to have arrived there by way of Egypt.
Giraldus Cambrensis. The Latinised pen name of Gerald de Barri, Archbishop of St David’s, and historian of Cambria or Wales.
Girasole. The Italian name of the sunflower, from the Latin gyara, to turn, and sol, the sun.
Girondists. Deputies from the Department of the Gironde who formed the Moderate Republican Party in the French Revolution.