GIGA, or JIG, in Music and Dancing, a gay, brisk, sprightly composition, and yet in full measure, as well as the allemand, which is more serious. Menage takes the word to arise from the Italian gieg, a musical instrument mentioned by Dante. Others suppose it to be derived from the Teutonic giga, or ghighe, "a fiddle." This is a favourite air in most nations of Europe: its characteristic is double time, marked \( \frac{4}{4} \) or \( \frac{2}{2} \): it consists of two strains, without any determinate number of bars.