mumble

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English momelen, also spelled mumlen, mummelen and momble.^[2][3][4] Most dictionaries take it as a frequentative formation from English mum + -le, from an imitative base,^{[5][3][6][7][8]} and Merriam-Webster Unabridged calls it simply imitative.^[9] The Middle English Dictionary and the American Heritage Dictionary instead derive it borrowed from Middle Dutch mommelen,^[2][10] which the OED thinks may be the immediate source.^[5] Related words are Middle Dutch mummelen, Middle Low German mummelen, German mummeln, Old Swedish mumbla (now Swedish mumla) and Danish mumle.^[5][6][4] The OED and Hoad also compare the earlier mamelen (“to mutter, chatter”).^[5][6] The -b- is unetymological, added in the 15th century,^[3] as in mump.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

To eat slowly and ineffectually, to chew as with toothless gums: before 1350, in a poem printed in Robbins's historical poems.^[5] Barnhart dates the first record to about 1325, with a meaning that is uncertain, perhaps "to talk with one's mouth full".^[4][3]

Semantic evolution

The speaking sense, "to speak indistinctly or with the lips partly closed", followed about 1350,^[5][3] and in Middle English the verb could also mean to grumble, or to say prayers carelessly, as in momelen on matines.^[2] Piers Plowman has Of this matere I mihte momele ful longe.^[11] The transitive use, "to utter in low, indistinct tones", is recorded from about 1450,^[5][3] and the noun, a mumbled sound, from 1653 in the OED,^[5] though Barnhart and Etymonline date it only to 1902.^[4][3] The chewing sense survived: in 1591 Lyly used it transitively, of chewing with toothless gums,^[5] and mumble-crust (1550, in Udall's Ralph Roister Doister) was a toothless person.^[12] From 1668 it also meant to mouth something eagerly with the lips,^[5] and between 1588 and 1890 to handle roughly or jumble together, a sense that ended in English dialect.^[5] Johnson (1755) gave "to utter with a low inarticulate voice" as its first sense.^[13] Wright's dialect dictionary records the chewing sense in Scotland, Cumberland, Yorkshire, Lancashire, Lincolnshire and Wiltshire, as well as the boys' game mumble the peg.^[14] Collins now calls the chewing sense rare, and Merriam-Webster Unabridged calls it archaic.^[15][9]

Timeline

• before 1350 – to eat slowly, to chew as with toothless gums.^[5]
• c. 1350 – to speak indistinctly, to mutter.^[5][3]
• c. 1450 – transitive, to utter in low, indistinct tones.^[5]
• 1550 – mumble-crust, a toothless person.^[12]
• 1588 – to handle roughly, to jumble (obsolete by 1890).^[5]
• 1591 – transitive, to chew with toothless gums.^[5]
• 1653 – noun, a mumbled or indistinct sound.^[5] Barnhart and Etymonline date the noun 1902.^[4][3]
• 1668 – to mouth eagerly with the lips.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To speak in a low, indistinct way, with the mouth nearly closed; to mutter: He mumbled something about the weather and left.^[15][9][5]
2. To say something in such a voice: She mumbled an excuse into her scarf.^[9][5]
3. (archaic) To chew gently or ineffectually, as with toothless gums.^[9][15][5]

Noun

1. A low, indistinct sound or utterance: a mumble of voices from the next room.^[15][9][5]

Word family

• mumbler
• mumbly
• mumblingly

Related words

• mum
• mump
• mumps
• mumblety-peg

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
11. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
12. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
13. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
14. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
15. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins