Origin of Phrases - G
Gargoyle
Dating back to the 13th century, architects needed a way of dealing with rainwater that accumulated on the cathedrals they were building, rather than having the water fall along the walls of the buildings. Sculptors set about creating ornamental creations to handle the water, inevitably ending up in a game of one-upsmanship with each other. Some were amusing designs and others were angels and demons. But whatever was represented in stone, they all spewed streams of water from their throats and mouth. The French word for throat at that time was gargouille, which translated into English as gargoyle.