babble

As Labern one is derogatory language or communication behavior referred to the wordy, but the listener meaningful appears emptied. It means something like 'talking stupid things' or 'chatting without a break'.

The verb labern has been used in German since the 18th century and is quite common in dialectal terms. It is assumed that there is a connection with the existing meaning of 'drinking with a lick' (especially in the case of dogs), which is related to rag (' wipe '). At the end of the 18th century mentioned Johann Christoph ennobling blabber next clap , talk and chatter as a synonym to chat . There is also the spelling lab b ern and next to the noun formation Gelaber also Gelabber , both as 'stupid talk' and in the meaning of 'tasteless food'.

An early appearance in the written German language is attributed to Christoph Martin Wieland (1733–1813) and thus to the Age of Enlightenment . In an exchange of letters he wrote: "I am beginning to get tired of babbling and see that I have not yet said a word about the 2nd transport that I received from you yesterday."

The 19th century knows the lab technician as a play on words with the lab technician : "He belongs to the lab technicians" meant someone who "gossips with simple-minded stuff". The names Laberhans and Labersack for 'boring babbler' have also been passed down.

See also

• Geseire
• Booby
• Logorrhea

literature

• Rainald Goetz : Loslabern , Suhrkamp, ​​2nd edition 2009, ISBN 3-518-42112-3

Web links

Wiktionary: labern  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

• Labern - Harald Martenstein on an overrated cultural technique (2011)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d} talk . In: Kluge: Etymological dictionary of the German language. 24th edition. 2002.
2. ↑ babble . In: Mackensen: Large German Dictionary. 1977.
3. ↑ ^{a b c} talk, verbum. In: Jacob Grimm , Wilhelm Grimm (Hrsg.): German dictionary . tape 12 : L, M - (VI). S. Hirzel, Leipzig 1885 ( woerterbuchnetz.de ).
4. ↑ Johann Christoph Adelung : Grammatical-critical dictionary of the High German dialect. Volume 3. Leipzig 1798, pp. 791-792 ( Zeno.org , accessed on February 11, 2009).
5. ↑ Gelabber . In: Mackensen: Large German Dictionary. 1977.
6. ^ Karl Friedrich Wilhelm Wander (ed.): German Sprichwort Lexikon. Volume 2. Leipzig 1870, Sp. 1741 ( online ).