gargle [E16th] The words gargle and gargoyle [ME] are closely related, linked by the idea of throats. Gargle comes from French gargouiller ‘to gurgle or bubble’, from gargouille ‘throat’. A gargoyle, a grotesque figure of a human or animal carved on a building, especially one that acts as a waterspout, with water passing through its throat and mouth came from the same source.