Gogmagog

English

Etymology

Often connected to the Biblical characters Gog and Magog. However, Manley Pope, author of an 1862 English translation of the Welsh chronicle Brut y Brenhinedd, argued that it was a corruption of Welsh Gawr Madoc (Madoc the Giant).

Proper noun

Gogmagog

1. (mythology) A legendary giant in Welsh and later English folklore, said to have been a giant inhabitant of Albion who was thrown off a cliff during a wrestling match with Corineus, a companion of Brutus of Troy.
   • 1907, E.M. Forster, The Longest Journey, Part I, VII [Uniform ed., p. 86]:

     It’s funny enough now, but it wasn’t funny then, for I got in such a state that I believed, actually believed, that Fauns lived in a certain double hedgerow near the Gog Magogs, and one evening I walked a mile sooner than go through it alone.

Alternative forms

• Goemagot, Goemot