Gurges

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈɡɝd͡ʒiz/

Definitions

1. A whirlpool or turbulent water
2. a powerful stream that creates a vortex effect
3. a swirling body of water often associated with strong currents and movement

Etymology: "Gurges" is a Latin word meaning whirlpool or deep eddying water, and it came into English in the Middle English period. Its meaning in Latin was not limited to the sea or rivers: the same root produced words for the throat and for a gulf or abyss, so the image of water swallowing downward runs through the family. English took the word directly from Latin, which is why it sits so close to its original form. It is a doublet of "gorge" and "gour", meaning that these three English words all descend from the same Latin source but arrived by different routes and were absorbed at different times, so each picked up its own sense. "Gorge" came to mean the throat and later a narrow ravine, while "gurges" stayed attached to the image of churning water.