1620s, "huge," from Latin elephantinus "pertaining to the elephant," from elephantus (see elephant). Meaning "pertaining to elephants" is from 1670s.
Used of programs or systems that are both conspicuous hogs (owing perhaps to poor design founded on brute force and ignorance) and exceedingly hairy in source form. An elephantine program may be functional and even friendly, but (as in the old joke about being in bed with an elephant) it's tough to have around all the same (and, like a pachyderm, difficult to maintain). In extreme cases, hackers have been known to make trumpeting sounds or perform expressive proboscatory mime at the mention of the offending program. Usage: semi-humorous. Compare "has the elephant nature" and the somewhat more pejorative monstrosity. See also second-system effect and baroque.
[Jargon File]
island in the Nile opposite Aswan city in Aswan muhafazah (governorate), Upper Egypt. Elephantine is the Greek name for pharaonic Abu. There the 18th- and 19th-dynasty pharaohs built a large temple to Khnum, the ram god of the cataract region, to his consort, Sati, and to Anuket, goddess of nearby Sehel. To the north stands the Old and Middle Kingdom shrine. Numerous outstanding rock tombs of the Old and Middle Kingdom nobles of the city are situated high in the cliff on the west bank of the Nile. In the Old Kingdom (c. 2575-c. 2130 BC) Elephantine was known as the "door of the south," since it was the most southerly city in Egypt and the starting point for Sudanese trade. In the Middle Kingdom (1938-c. 1600? BC) it was an administrative centre for Egyptian-controlled Nubia. During the New Kingdom (1539-1075 BC), the region was part of the province of Nubia, but, from the Saite period (664-525 BC), it again became a frontier fortress. In modern times the island is the site of two Nubian villages.