by 
RFlagg
ANSWERS: 6
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"Gig" is a shortening of the the prefix "giga-". It is most often encountered in the term "gigabyte", a measure of storage capacity often abbreviated to "gig". Originally, this came from the Greek word "qigantas", giant. However, is has been formally adopted as a prefix signifying 10^9 or 1,000,000,000. Thus a "gigasomething" is 1,000,000,000" somethings. The water has been sometimes muddled in the field of disk storage, when "gig" sometimes means 2^30, which is slightly larger than 10^9, or some intermediate number.
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Back in my rock and roll band days, the term gig, meant that we had an upcoming dance to perform. a gig.
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so.....what IS the origin of gig then?? so far, i have read it came from an old english word meaning a fast carriage, a boat that captains used, etc. but how did we come to use it for stuff like performances, shows, etc.....?? anyone,....bueller.....?
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Likely comes from French gigue "a ball or dance".
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There are several meanings of the word. If you are referring to a job or work opportunity, I found this: "Job," first used by jazz musicians, attested from 1915 but said to have been in use c.1905; of uncertain origin. http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=GIG&searchmode=none
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In musical terms, it is an easy answer! New oRleans was a French-speaking colony. The word was transformed from "Gigue", meaning a dance (specifically, a French 18th-century dance), but the meaning probably was morphed to mean a musical performance of any type. Hence, "I have a gig, tonight" orginally meant "I am playing for a dance, tonight" and later meant "I have a musical engagement, tonight" (not necessarily a "dance", however)
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