the.com/gargoyle
a stone monster with a day job: spitting rain off your roof.
means A carved stone figure, often grotesque or monstrous, projecting from a building's roof to channel rainwater away from the walls (strictly, ones without spouts are 'grotesques').
from From Old French 'gargouille,' meaning throat or gullet — the same gurgling root that gives us 'gargle.' Both echo the watery 'gar-gar' sound of liquid rushing through a narrow passage. So the name describes exactly what the creature does: water pours out through its open mouth, gargling as it goes. A medieval French legend tells of a dragon called La Gargouille, slain near Rouen, whose head was mounted on a church — a charming tale, but the word's true ancestry is plainly the gurgling throat itself.
- actual function
- They channel rainwater away from walls
- name origin
- From French gargouille, meaning throat
- not gargoyles
- Waterless stone beasts are called grotesques
- medieval purpose
- Scary faces meant to frighten away evil
- hidden spouts
- Water exits through the mouth like vomit
notre-dame de chartres — gothic cathedral in chartres, france with over 70 gargoyles dating to the 12th century
notre-dame de reims — french gothic cathedral with elaborate gargoyle collection on the facade and flying buttresses
cologne cathedral — unesco world heritage site in germany with over 100 gargoyles and water-spouting figures