Chapter 2. Giants of Old
Knowing the etymology of “giant” makes sense of gigas, gygas, and Gyges/gyes,the source words for the giant Gyes/Gyges in Hesiod’s Theogony. Both spellings were transliterated into various English translations for a member of the Gigantes/Gygentes monster race that appear many times in Hesiod’s works. The size of the Gigantes had to be huge (gigantic) to accommodate all the arms and legs, just as Webster’s Dictionary defines a giant as huge, a person of abnormally great stature, originating from Greek gigas and gigantos/gigantas…. Gigantic is defined as a characteristic of a giant as in huge and derives originally from Greek gigas.
Thus, “giant” in Greek derives jointly from gigas/giges and gigantes/gigentes, noting the latter also were known as Gegeneis, with both gigentes and Gegeneis meaning “earth-born.” Giant and Gigantes were earth-born via the gods in the physical world versus the spirit dimension, born of the mother goddess of the earth named as Gaia and Uranus and/or Cronos with their physical world DNA, along with their kin but distinct Cyclops. The original Cyclops—Stereopes, Arges, and Brontes—further produced offspring with human females, producing smaller cyclopean giants that were hairy, savage, and one-eyed, distinct from the giant heroes created by Olympian gods.
The mother earth goddess appellation is the source allegory for “earth-born,” also as it applied to the mighty demigod earth-born giants/heroes that were born of earth-born human females (many who were allegorically raised to mother earth goddess status by their actions) with male gods, as in Hercules son of Zeus and the human female Alcmene; and human males with mother goddesses recorded in Theogony, procreating giant(s)/gigas/giges renowned as heroe(s). Accordingly, Pausanias documented the giant corpse of Orontes; the Indian (Indo-Aryan) was about eleven cubits (sixteen to nineteen feet) tall, and discovered on the Syrian Orontes River. Moreover, Gyges/Giyes was a hero (giant) king and dynastic founder in Lydia circa 600 BC, and one of the kings of the Heraclides (descended from Hercules); King Gog was another giant associated with the kings of Lydia.
