A couple weeks ago, my husband asked, “Are gorgeous and gorge related?” I had no idea. But of course, this being us, we both immediately said, “Word of the Week!” and I vowed to look it up. 😉 

And it turns out…YES! Gorgeous and gorge are indeed from the same root, meaning “throat.” Which immediately makes sense for gorge, right? It’s from the idea of cramming food down your throat. But gorgeous? How does that track?

The history is a bit iffy, but etymologists think it’s linked to necklaces that adorn the throat. Jewelry would have been the first things to be called gorgeous, meaning “elegant,” and from there, “splendid, showy, sumptuously adorned”…like jewelry. The word dates from around 1500 in English, coming to us from French, which in turn came from Latin, which is thought to come from the Greek gorgias…Gorgias being a man famous for his rhetoric (hence his voice and things that come from his throat–anyone who’s read the Socratic dialogues will be familiar with him!)

Word Nerds Merch!