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giddy (adj.)Old English gidig, variant of gydig "insane, mad, stupid," perhaps literally "possessed (by a spirit)," if it is from Proto-Germanic *gud-iga- "possessed by a god," from *gudam "god" (see god (n.)) + *-ig "possessed." Meaning "having a confused, swimming sensation" is from 1560s (compare sense evolution of dizzy). Meaning "elated" is from 1540s. Related: Giddily; giddiness.
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giddy-up (interj.)
Related entries & more command to a horse to go, 1909, probably an extended form of earlier giddap (1867), itself probably from get up. Compare gee.
The terms used to start horses in harness and to urge them to a better appreciation of the value of time comprise vulgar corruptions of ordinary speech and peculiar inarticulate sounds. Throughout England and the United States drivers start their horses by picking up the reins, drawing them gently against the animals' mouths, and exclaiming go 'long and get up; the latter appears in the forms get ap (a as in hat), giddap, and gee-hup or gee-up. [H. Carrington Bolton, "Talking to Domestic Animals," in The American Anthropologist, March 1897]
swindler (n.)1774, from German Schwindler "giddy person, extravagant speculator, cheat," from schwindeln "to be giddy, act extravagantly, swindle," from Old High German swintilon "be giddy," frequentative form of swintan "to languish, disappear;" cognate with Old English swindan, and probably with swima "dizziness." Said to have been introduced in London by German Jews c. 1762.
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giglot (n.)"lewd, wanton woman" (mid-14c.); later "a giddy, romping girl;" of unknown origin; compare gig (n.1).
Related entries & more hare-brained (adj.)also harebrained, 1540s, from hare-brain "giddy or reckless person" (1540s), probably from hare (n.), on notion of "flighty, skittish."
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Related entries & more also scatter-brain, "thoughtless, giddy person; one incapable of serious, connected thought," 1790, from adjective scatter-brained (1764); see scatter (v.) + brain (n.). Scattered in the figurative mental sense is by 1620s, and the use of scattering for "mental distraction" dates to mid-15c. For the formation, compare scatter-good "spendthrift" (early 13c. as a surname).
gig (n.1)"light, two-wheeled carriage, usually drawn by one horse" (1791), also "small boat," 1790, perhaps imitative of bouncing. There was a Middle English ghyg "spinning top" (in whyrlegyg, mid-15c.), also "giddy girl" (early 13c., also giglet), from Old Norse geiga "turn sideways," or Danish gig "spinning top." Similar to words in continental Germanic for "fiddle" (such as German Geige); the connecting sense might be "rapid or whirling motion."
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