Gargantuesque

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Template:Move to wiktionary list Gargantuesque is a French word indicating an incredibly huge proportion.

The word is derived from the word Gargantua which was first used in the sixteenths century French novels of François Rabelais ("Gargantua" and "Pantagruel"), Gargantua being the eponymous character of an "enormous giant" with a voracious appetite. Part of the impact of the novels on French culture are the words "gargantuesque" and "gargantuen" (which would be translated as "gargantuan" in English) which entered the French language as an analogy to the incredible magnitude of Gargantua's appetite (for example as a baby he drank daily the milk produced by 17900 cows).

The novels are available on the web in the original old French. For Gargantua, and for Pantagruel.