Gossip (word origin)

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The Old English word godsibb referred to a person related by blood and female or male godparents.

Since the 14th century, the term was also used for (especially female) neighbors, close relatives and close friends.

In the 16th century, the term received a negative connotation in the course of the social devaluation of women and became synonymous with idle chatter and rumor , translated as "useless chatter" and "rumor" and used as a defamatory term for conversations between women.

With this negative connotation, gossip found its way into German usage as a foreign word and is used as a colloquial synonym for gossip .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Pascal Tréguer: the curious history of the word 'gossip'. February 4, 2017. Retrieved September 23, 2019 (UK English).
  2. ↑ gossip | Origin and meaning of gossip by Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved September 23, 2019 .
  3. ↑ Silvia Federici: Caliban and the Witch . Ed .: Martin Birkner. 4th edition. Mandelbaum, Vienna / Berlin 2017, ISBN 978-3-85476-670-4 , p. 128 .