"pertaining to the throat," 1590s, from Middle French guttural, from Latin guttur "throat, gullet," perhaps expressive of throat-noises. "Note that gula, glut- and gurgulio also refer to the 'throat' and 'swallowing', and also contain g(l)u-. Guttur may belong to this same family, which has no PIE etymology" [de Vaan]. The noun, in linguistics, is from 1690s.