Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1907-04-12
ORIGIN OF GARGoYLGs.

salt Lakers innumerable. who pass
the altogether splendid Catholic cathe-
dral, now nearing completion on South
Temple street. and the pretty and pie
turesGne new Presbyterian Church on
the same beautiful thoroughfare, daily
stop and admire their imposing fronts
| and fine architecture But to many
their otherwise, in all respects pleas
| Ing appearance. is married by the pres
ence OF hdeous gargOyles cut into The
solid stone.
1t must NOT be imagined that they
are in any wise new or unique, for thcy
are not. They are found on tho finest
church buildings IN Cbrlstendonr, In
Europe and the United States alike
They comprise almost every kind OF
bird and beast real and legendary, and
include many uncanny and dlahollcal
distortions Of the human form. The
boldness and abandon to which this
sort OF ecclesiastical establishment
has been carried probably reached It's
height I'm the work at the sculptor of
the Hast century, who, during the res
toratlon OF Chester Cathedral. at the
time Of the dIsestabishment Of the
Irish Church, cut hdeous carcature
of Gladstone's head over or near the
main entrance to the ediflce. AS 10 the
actual origin OF This kind of maiadorn-
nlent there Is more or less doubt But
a special writer OF the London Globe
has succeeded In obtaining some def
mite information, He says that one OF
the earliest of The Ella borate attempts
TO transform roof spouts seems 10 have
been at the Cathedral OF Romen, where
the figure of the great dragon was
adopted for one Of them, though
whether 1t was intended as an object
OF terror 10 the hobs obIIn fraternity OF
the seventh century. OF a symbol Of the
chuTchs triumph over a public foe, can
only be cOn5eCtWred- This fearsome
Wild fowl terrorized both bariles Of the
Seine and terribly rayagcd the City OF
Rouen until no was calamity slain by
St Rornlnus, bishop of the cathedral
there. Probably In sheer .jubIlatlon OF
spirits and In compliment to the valor-
GUS bishop the carcass OF the mlschiey-
Gus beast was embodied in stone and
set up aloft as a warming to all depre-
datcrs and any evil spirits by which
they might be actuated. The name
given to this unlucky animal is said TO
have been gargomille, and hence the
name given to his efiley, according to
n rth nr IL
rive the appellatIOn from '-gargoiilc,''
the wea2and OF the throat, or from
'gargaIe," disease to which swine are
liable, and which ca uses a gurglIng
sound in the throat, like that which
water makes in passing through pipe
We are all ut liberty to choose a deriv-
alton, since nobody can speak with au-
thority,
III gargouilo was really the name
conferred upon the more or less fab
uIous beast whose carcass was initiated
by some fanclful sculptor In the max
ing of an ornamental spout. then the
Is. that we have here the
origin not only OF ''gargoyIe" but OF
the French word for the weazand, as
well as the English words, ''surgle"
and "gargle-" Commenting upon the
matter the Globe correspondent says;
One ugly creature having been adopt
ad fof "A stone eitigy ON so famous a
ehurCh as that at Rouen In the seventh
may easily be conceived 10
have set the fashion for other churches.
and the superi1nous hiCcousness OF so |
many Of these objections certainly sup
ports the notion that IN part their
sculptor9 were actuaied by the idea of
the uncanny foik from the
sacred edlhces OF the wors shippers
THE dragon Is fine comm nccment OF
AN forms of the gargoyle. and toward
the end of the thirteenth century WHOM
lac proprlely of adopting this crea
.ure had become AN old tradition 81 |
church architecture the form Of the
WIS Transformed Into n thing
IF some approach "a grace and ele-
gance. In the meantime, however, al
most every bird or Qnadruped of evil |
rcpltlc and Of figure that could by any
ingenuity be distorted into |
something flightful had been called Ia
for the spiritual defense OF the church.
and when animal shapes alone had been
made to undergo every contOrtOn that /
could he conceived they Were combined
With human figures ana faces a deye.
upmont which Inevitably led 10 the
later adoption az AN SORTS Of mns and
demons