Editing Giga- (section)

==Pronunciation==
In [[English language|English]], the prefix ''giga'' can be pronounced {{IPAc-en|ˈ|ɡ|ɪ|ɡ|ə}} (a hard ''g'' as in ''giggle''), or {{IPAc-en|ˈ|dʒ|ɪ|g|ə}} (a soft ''g'' as in ''gigantic'', which shares ''giga''{{'s}} Ancient Greek root).<ref>{{cite web |title=SI prefixes and their etymologies |url=https://usma.org/si-prefixes-and-their-etymologies |website=US Metric Association |access-date=27 November 2019}}</ref> A prominent example of this latter pronunciation is found in the pronunciation of ''gigawatts'' in the 1985 film ''[[Back to the Future]]''.

According to the American writer Kevin Self, a German committee member of the [[International Electrotechnical Commission]] proposed ''giga'' as a prefix for 10<sup>9</sup> in the 1920s, drawing on a verse (evidently "Anto-logie") by the German humorous poet [[Christian Morgenstern]] that appeared in the third (1908) edition of his {{lang|de|Galgenlieder}} (Gallows Songs).<ref>{{cite book |author-last=Morgenstern |author-first=Christian |author-link=Christian Morgenstern |others=Illustrated by [[Karl Walser]] |title={{lang|de|Galgenlieder nebst dem 'Gingganz'}} |date=1917 |publisher=Bruno Cassirer |via=[[Project Gutenberg]] |location=Berlin, Germany |page=52 |edition=22 |language=de |quote=''[First four lines:]'' {{lang|de|Im Anfang lebte, wie bekannt, / als größter Säuger der ''Gig''-ant. / Wobei ''gig'' eine Zahl ist, die / es nicht mehr gibt, - so groß war sie!|italic=unset}}}} [These lines are the only appearance of ''gig'' in the book. {{lang|de|Gigant}} is German for "giant"; cf. "gigantic".]</ref><ref>{{cite book |author-last=Morgenstern |author-first=Christian |author-link=Christian Morgenstern |title=Gallows Songs: Christian Morgenstern's "Galgenlieder", Bilingual Edition: A Selection |date=1963 |translator-last=Knight |translator-first=Max |translator-link=Max Knight |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=9780520008847 |pages=24–25 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bPLXx5DYnT8C&pg=PA24 |access-date=20 February 2016 |quote=''[Translation:]'' Of yore, on earth was dominant / the biggest mammal: the Gig-ant. / ("Gig" is a numeral so vast, / it's been extinct for ages past.)}}</ref> This suggests that a hard German {{IPA|[ɡ]}} was originally intended as the pronunciation. Self was unable to ascertain when the {{IPA|/dʒ/}} (soft ''g'') pronunciation came into occasional use, but claimed that as of 1995 it had returned to {{IPA|/ɡ/}} (hard ''g'').<ref>{{cite journal |author-last=Self |author-first=Kevin |title=Technically speaking |journal=Spectrum |page=18 |publisher=[[IEEE]] |date=October 1994}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |author-last=Self |author-first=Kevin |title=Technically speaking |journal=Spectrum |page=16 |publisher=[[IEEE]] |date=April 1995}}</ref>

In 1998, a poll by the phonetician [[John C. Wells]] found that 84% of Britons preferred the pronunciation of ''gigabyte'' starting with {{IPA|/ɡɪ/}} (as in ''gig''), 9% with {{IPA|/dʒɪ/}} (as in ''jig''), 6% with {{IPA|/ɡaɪ/}} (''guy''), and 1% with {{IPA|/dʒaɪ/}} (as in ''giant'').<ref>Wells, J.&nbsp;C. (1998). ''[http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/wells/poll98.htm LPD pronunciation preference poll 1998]''.</ref>