garble

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈɡɑː(ɹ)bəl/^[1]

Etymology

It comes from Middle English garbelen “to sift impurities from spices”,^[2][3][4] from Anglo-Norman garbeler (“to sift”)^[2][3][5] and from Medieval Latin garbellare,^[2][3][5] from Arabic غربل (ḡarbala, “to sift”),^{[2][3][5][6][4]} related to ġirbāl “sieve”,^[2][3][5] which is perhaps from Late Latin cribellum, a diminutive of Latin cribrum (“sieve”).^{[2][3][5][6][4]} Barnhart and Etymonline note that the word was widespread among Mediterranean traders.^[3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

To inspect spices and remove the dirt and refuse from them (1419–20 in Barnhart, early 15th century in Etymonline).^[3][5][2]

Semantic evolution

Spices and drugs imported from the eastern Mediterranean often contained chaff, which had to be sifted out.^[5] From sifting spices the verb passed to selecting the best of anything (1483),^[7][5] and to weeding out unwanted members of a body.^[7] By 1689–92 it meant to make unfair or mischievous selections from a statement or writing, so as to distort its meaning;^[7][3][5] from this came the sense of mixing up or confusing language,^[5][2][4] and later of scrambling a signal or message.^[2][6]

Timeline

• 1419–20 – to remove refuse from spices.^[3]
• 1483 – to pick out the best.^[7]
• 1502 – noun, refuse removed from spices.^[7][6]
• 1689–92 – to distort by unfair selection.^[7][3]
• 1829 – noun, of language (Etymonline).^[5]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To mix up or distort so as to make misleading or incomprehensible.
2. To scramble a signal or message, as by faulty encoding or transmission.
3. (archaic) To sift impurities from; to cull or pick out the best of.

Noun

1. An act or instance of garbling.
2. Impurities sifted from spices.

Word family

• garbler

Related words

• garbage
• certain

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
4. ^ a b c d Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press