gab

gab¹ talk, chatter

Etymology

The word for idle talk is inherited from Middle English gabben (“to mock; to lie, deceive”),^[2][3][4] a word of Scandinavian origin: it is either borrowed from Old Norse gabba (“to mock, make fun of”) directly,^[4][2][5][3] or, in other accounts, borrowed from Old French gaber (“to mock, jest, boast”), itself from the Norse verb.^[6][7][3] The revised OED leaves the choice open, and also allows an unrecorded Old English cognate, perhaps related to the element gaf- of gafsprǣc (“frivolous speech, idle talk”).^[8] The Middle English noun gab (“a gibe; deceit”) has the same double source, in Old French gab (“mockery, jest”) and Old Norse gabb (“mockery”).^[8][3][4] The Old Norse verb has cognates in Old Frisian gabbia (“to accuse”), Middle Dutch gabben (“to mock”) and Middle Low German gabben (“to jest”);^[8] Etymonline thinks it perhaps imitative in the end,^[3] and the American Heritage Dictionary suggests either an imitative origin or a link with gapa (“to gape”).^[5] How the modern sense "to chatter" arose is disputed.^[8][7][9] The OED takes it as the same verb, used of foolish talk from about 1390,^[8] and Barnhart traces it through the dialects of northern England and Scotland, where it was common long before Burns wrote it in 1786.^[4][3] Merriam-Webster Unabridged and the Shorter Oxford take the modern verb as probably short for gabble,^[7][6] Klein and Weekley call it imitative, Weekley keeping it apart from the medieval verb,^[10][11] and Collins, Hoad and the Oxford Dictionary of English derive it from the Scottish word for the mouth (below), a variant of gob.^[9][12][13]

Earliest recorded meaning

To reproach or mock oneself: before 1200, in a homily of a Trinity College, Cambridge manuscript.^[8] Barnhart dates the verb, "to scoff, jeer", to probably about 1150, and the noun, "a gibe, taunt", to about 1200.^[4]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English the verb meant to mock or scoff (about 1225 to 1573) and to lie to or deceive someone (about 1275 to 1570),^[8][2] and a gabber was a liar or mocker.^[3] The noun likewise meant deceit or a lie, often in the phrase without gab, truly, after Anglo-Norman sanz gap.^[8] Chaucer used the verb for foolish talk: Barnhart cites the Book of the Duchess (1369), the OED the Miller's Tale (about 1390).^[4][8] The medieval senses then died out,^[8][6] but the sense "chatter" lived on in Scots and northern English dialect,^[4][14] and came back into writing in the 18th century: the noun, talk or lively chat, in 1761, together with gift of the gab, a talent for fluent speech,^[8] and the verb in Burns in 1786.^[4][3][7] Etymonline dates gift of (the) gab to the 1680s,^[3] and Weekley notes that gift of the gob is older.^[11] Etymonline cites the OED's remark that the word was "not in dignified use";^[3] slang added to blow the gab, to inform (1785), and to hold one's gab, to be quiet (1793).^[8] The boasting sense of the French word, common in Old French epic,^[11] reached English late: the noun "an idle boast" from 1737, often of the vows of Charlemagne's knights, and the verb "to boast" from 1825, in Scott's Talisman, both archaic.^[8]

Timeline

• before 1200 – to reproach or mock oneself (obsolete).^[8]
• c. 1200 – noun, a gibe or taunt.^[4][3] The OED's first record is from about 1225.^[8]
• c. 1225 – to mock, scoff at (obsolete by 1573).^[8]
• c. 1275 – to lie to, deceive (obsolete by 1570).^[8]
• c. 1300 – noun, deceit, a lie (obsolete).^[8]
• 1369 – to talk foolishly, in Chaucer's Book of the Duchess.^[4] The OED's first record of the sense “to chatter” is Chaucer's Miller's Tale, of about 1390.^[8]
• 1737 – noun, an idle boast.^[8]
• 1761 – noun, talk, chat, and the phrase gift of the gab.^[8]
• 1785 – to blow the gab, to inform.^[8]
• 1786 – to chatter, in Burns.^[4][3][7]
• 1825 – to boast (archaic).^[8]

Meanings

Verb

1. (informal) To talk idly or at length, especially about trivial things; to chatter: The two neighbours gabbed over the fence all afternoon.^[9][7][8]
2. (archaic) To boast or brag.^[7][8]
3. (obsolete, 1225–1573) To mock or scoff.^[8][6]
4. (obsolete, 1275–1570) To lie, or to deceive someone.^[8][2][6]

Noun

1. (informal) Talk, especially idle or trivial talk; chatter.^[9][7][8]
2. gift of the gab: a talent for speaking fluently and persuasively.^[9][8][6]
3. An idle boast; a show of bravado.^[8][6]
4. (obsolete) Mockery or deceit; a lie.^[8][6]

Word family

• gabber
• gabby
• gabfest
• bafflegab

gab² mouth

Etymology

The word for the mouth is from English a variant of gob, the mouth,^{[8][6][7][12][13]} which is probably from Irish gob (“beak, mouth”) and Scottish Gaelic gob.^[8][3][12] The OED notes that the later noun for talk is often associated with it.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The mouth: 1681, in a letter of W. Carstares.^[8]

Semantic evolution

It is chiefly a Scottish word:^[7][6] A. Ramsay used it in his verse in 1722,^[15] and his Gentle Shepherd (1725) has to steek one's gab, to shut one's mouth.^[8] The Shorter Oxford dates it to the early 18th century.^[6] In Cumberland it still meant the mouth at the end of the 19th century, and in Aberdeenshire a talkative person was weel shod i' the gab.^[14] Merriam-Webster Unabridged also gives the Scottish senses "tongue" and "taste".^[7]

Timeline

• 1681 – the mouth.^[8]
• 1725 – to steek one's gab, to shut one's mouth.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. (chiefly Scottish) The mouth.^{[7][8][6][15]}
2. steek one's gab: to shut one's mouth; to be silent.^[8]