2130: The Relation between Gossip and Relations Oct 14, 2020

Gossip and siblings are connected...and also they have an etymological relation. Upon first glance, those two words might not look alike, and that's because both have second element connected to it. With the common element being 'sib', 'gossip' comes as a noun from 'god-' from the same pattern as 'godfather' or 'godmother': in this case god-sib(ling). Eventually its meaning moved to that of 'neighbor' and then women invited to attend birth, still mostly in keeping with the meaning of non-blood family. The association those people will have however to idle chatter is a consistent throughout time apparently, because within about 200 years or so the word went from meaning 'relation' to meaning what it does today, and this exact process happened in other languages too.

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