This word relates to art, architecture, painting, sculpture, and fiction: it can describe elaborate 13th-15th century architecture or grotesque, medieval fiction. What is this adjective?

Few words have had such a dramatic transformation in meaning. Originally, the term described the majestic architectural style that flourished in Europe from the 12th to the 16th century. This style is defined by features like pointed arches, ribbed vaults, and flying buttresses, which allowed for soaring cathedrals with vast, light-filled interiors. The art, sculpture, and painting of the period, often characterized by elongated figures and intense religious devotion, are all encompassed by this same term.

Ironically, the name was first used as an insult. During the Renaissance, artists and thinkers who revered the classical styles of ancient Greece and Rome looked back on the medieval period with disdain. They dismissed its unique architecture as crude and uncivilized, contemptuously naming it after the Goths, the Germanic tribes they blamed for the fall of the Roman Empire. To them, the style was synonymous with barbarism.

It wasn't until the late 18th century that the word was reclaimed and given its spooky, romantic connotation. A new literary movement emerged, led by authors who were fascinated by the mysterious, sublime, and often terrifying atmosphere of decaying medieval castles and abbeys. These writers used the architectural settings to create a new genre of fiction filled with suspense, supernatural (Review) events, and horror. In this way, the "barbaric" architecture of the Middle Ages gave its name to a celebrated literary tradition that continues to influence stories today.