Talk
Last
week’s post on various words for gatherings got me thinking about what goes on
at gatherings, which led me to consider the myriad words we have for talking.
The
word chatter
showed up in English in the 1200s, an echoic term referring to the noise of
birds. In less than a century, chatter had broadened to refer to gossiping or twittering (how many modern
folk might suggest that Twitter is nothing but gossip?). Today, chatter’s
definition is incessant talk of trivial
subjects.
A
lengthy or extravagant speech intended to
persuade is called a spiel. It comes from the German word
spielen, to play, and showed up in English in
the 1870s meaning to play circus music.
By the 1890s it began to mean to make a
glib speech or pitch.
Since
the 1400s English speakers have used the verb blab, which came from a
Middle English noun meaning one who
cannot control his tongue. Our friends at the OED state “the word was
exceedingly common in the 16th and 17th c.; unusual in
literature since c 1750.” Today blab means to reveal secret matters or chatter indiscriminately.
The
word prattle,
which showed up in the 1530s came from the verb prate, which came from a
Middle Dutch word meaning to chatter.
Today prattle means to babble
meaninglessly.
We
call a long angry speech, piece of
writing, or harangue a screed. This meaning of screed
appeared in 1789, but back in the 1300s the word screed meant a fragment or strip of cloth. How a fragment grew to refer to something long & monotonous is a question for
minds better than mine.
Any
thoughts about chattering, blabbing, prattling, spiels or screeds? Please
leave those thoughts in the comments section.