GIGA, or JIG, in Music and Dancing, a gay, brisk, sprightly composition, yet in full measure, as well as the allemand, which is more serious. Ménage conceives the word to spring from the Italian giga, a musical instrument mentioned by Dante. Others suppose it to be derived from the Teutonic giga, or ghigte, a fiddle. This is a favourite air in most nations of Europe; its characteristic is duplet time, and it consists of two strains, without any determinate number of bars.