The word Gothic originally came from a Germanic tribe (ie the Goths). The Romans regarded them as barbaric and uncultured, much like the Vandals. "Gothic" was later applied to a style of medieval architecture by critics who regarded it as similarly barbaric and uncultured (something similar happened with the term "Vandal"). The term was later applied to a late 18th/early 19th century style of literature which had a fascination with death and the supernatural.

 

Nowadays, emerged out of the post-punk, it is generally referred to as a subculture based on the alternative music scene above the mainstream and embracing the goth lifestyle and it's extensions into fashion, media, literature, architecture and so on. Above all, being a goth is out of the norm and a state of mind.