Technically speaking, the fantastic stone carvings that do not serve as functioning downspouts are known as grotesques, not gargoyles, though popular imagination lumps them together. That is precisely what, as an architectural element, the gargoyle is in charge of: a gargoyle collects and then expels water away from the roofs and walls of the building. In fact, the French word gargouille is a derivative of the verb gargouiller, which in turn derives from the Greek gargarizó: to gargle.
It is by no means a medieval invention: Egyptians, Greeks and Romans used them in ancient times, in order to prevent moisture from destroying their ceilings. A gargoyle is simply the protruding part of a pipe that serves to deflect water that would otherwise accumulate on a roof.
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