The Online Etymology Dictionary shows the first verified usage in 1915. But it also says the word is "of uncertain origin.".
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=gig

[This message was edited by Tucker Jackson on 25 February 2006 at 12:21 PM.]

I think, as opposed to "Jamming", "Rehearsing", "Busking", "Auditioning", or "Begging".

------------------
My Website..... www.cmedic.net/~almarcus/

quote:

---

The term is usually taken to be of American origin, but the interesting thing is that the first two citations in the Oxford English Dictionary are from a London publication, Melody Maker, in 1926 and 1927. So the word in this sense has long been known in Britain.
Gig is yet another of those words for which researchers can give no firm origin, and what follows is largely supposition, following the leads given by Dr Jonathan Lighter in the Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang.

The oldest sense of gig was of something that whirled or turned (as in whirligig); much later it was applied to a fast two-wheeled carriage, presumably because its big wheels went around quickly, and later to a fast ship’s boat. There are many other senses.

From the 1840s in the US, Mr Lighter shows it also applied to a form of betting, involving a set of three or five numbers selected by the bettor. From his examples, it seems the winning numbers were drawn from a rotating device, called a wheel, presumably like a lottery or tombola drum, which must be the link to the name. By the beginning of the twentieth century, Mr Lighter suggests the word had begun to be applied more generally to a business, state of affairs, or an undertaking or event. This may have been influenced by a similar sense of gag that had come into being by the 1890s.

However, the great majority of Mr Lighter’s examples in this sense date from 1957 or later, with only one from 1907 to suggest that it pre-dated the application of gig to an engagement to perform live music. This is why dictionaries are cautious about accepting this sequence of development of the word, even though it seems to be plausible.

These days, gig can have a wide range of senses, including a fairly new one that refers to any short-term paying commission or job; it need not be associated with music or performance, but it does preclude permanent full-time employment.

---

Gig
Gig is an interesting word with a variety of etymologically unrelated senses.

This brings us to the most common sense, that of a musician's engagement or job. The musical sense dates to 1926 and first arose as jazz slang in the US. But the origin is not in music. The use of gig to mean a non-musical job or occupation dates to 1908, and the sense of a business affair or event is a year older than that. The origin is unknown, but it may come from the slang term gag. This dates to 1890 and means business method, practice, or behavior. All these sense are American slang usages.

These last senses may be from, or be influenced by, an obsolete sense of gig. This sense of gig is a type of bet in a numbers game. It dates to 1847 and is an arbitrary use of the sense of gig as a carriage (a horse is another type of bet).

it's that French dance
(froglegs included)
the Gaellic have the jig too

the subject came up here a few years back
(i could'nt find it w: search)

who's got a book out there about Musikal slang ?
the only one i got is " Really the blues" by Mezz
gig is'nt in it

I don't know where jazz musicians of that era originally picked up the term "gig", but when they started playing with western-swing bands the use expanded by everyone who wanted to be viewed as "hip".

Took a gig to the gigue
made from trees and not twigs
We zigged from my digs
and set the mast rigs

Now I don't give a fig
if the pigs in a wig,
long's I get paid big
for playing my gigue

With this jigging cig pig in a wig
on a Commodores brig.

It felt appropriate.

The Aggies ain't giggin Froggies very regular anymore now that the SWC is no more.

Can't believe nobody said "Flounder Gigging" yet. I couldn't be the only one. Where's all you Coastal Texas Boys?

------------------
Chuck
Country Fever Band