galligaskinn.

Etymology: apparently an interpretative corruption of the 16th cent. French garguesque, a metathetic variant of greguesque, < Italian grechesca noun, originally feminine of grechesco Greek (this kind of hose being in 16th cent. described as alla grechesca = French à la grecque in the Greek fashion). The surviving French word in this sense is grègue, < Provençal grega or Spanish griega, originally the feminine of the adjective, Provençal grego, Spanish griego, Greek. The form garragascoynes seems to prove that the French word is really the source. The synonymous gally-breeches , gally-slops (see gally adj.¹) occur earlier than, and gasco(y)n , gaskin n.¹, about the same time with, the present word. If they are really older, the perversion of garguesque into galligaskin is fully accounted for. They may, however, have originated in a false analysis of galligaskin , which in that case must have been corrupted < garguesque by the influence of Gascon n. and adj. and galley n. (less probably Latin Galli- , Gallus , Gaul n. and adj., or gally gallows n. in the sense ‘braces’). The early examples associate galligaskins with ‘shipmen's hose’, and imply that the fashion belonged to the south of Europe, so that it would be very natural for popular etymology to connect the word with galley.