1560s, gais, from French gaze, which is of uncertain origin. It has been conjectured to be from Arabic gazz "raw silk" [Barnhart], or from Gaza, Palestinian city associated with production of this fabric [Klein, Du Cagne], but Century Dictionary calls the latter conjecture, and there has been no evidence for either.
-y 2
adjective suffix, "full of or characterized by," from Old English -ig, from Proto-Germanic *-iga- (source also of Dutch, Danish, German -ig, Gothic -egs), from PIE -(i)ko-, adjectival suffix, cognate with elements in Greek -ikos, Latin -icus (see -ic). Originally added to nouns in Old English; used from 13c. with verbs, and by 15c. even with other adjectives (for example crispy). Adjectives such as hugy, vasty are artificial words that exist for the sake of poetical metrics.