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Origin and history of tattle

tattle(v.)

late 15c., in Caxton's translation of "Reynard the Fox," "to stammer, prattle like a baby," senses now obsolete, probably from Middle Flemish tatelen "to stutter," parallel to Middle Dutch, Middle Low German, East Frisian tateren "to chatter, babble," Middle English tatteren "speak foolishly," probably ultimately of imitative origin.

The meaning "talk unreservedly, tell tales, spill secrets" is recorded by 1580s. Related: Tattled; tattling. As a noun from 1520s, "idle talk or chat."

Tittle-tattle (v.) "talk idly, prattle" is by 1580s; as a noun, "insignificant gossip," by 1530s; earlier trittle-trattle "idle talk," also an exclamation of contempt (1520s). Tattler, "chatterer, idle talker, a gossip" is from 1540s, later the name of the periodical run 1709-1711 by Addison and Steele.

also from late 15c.

Entries linking to tattle

tattletale(n.)

also tattle-tale, "one habitually fond of telling tales or spilling secrets," 1880, from tattle (v.) + tale (n.). Probably patterned on telltale (1540s). A 16c. word for "tattle-tale" was pickthank.

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    Trends of tattle

    adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

    More to explore

    talk
    c. 1200, talken, "speak, discourse, say something," probably a diminutive or frequentative form related to Middle English tale "story," and ultimately from the same source as tale (q.v.), with rare English formative -k (compare hark from hear, stalk from steal, smirk from smile)
    blab
    mid-15c., blabben, "to talk idly and foolishly, talk too much," apparently from Middle English noun blabbe "one who does not control his tongue" (late 13c.), which probably is echoic (compare Old Norse blabbra, Danish blabbre "babble," German plappern "to babble"). It is attested
    peach
    c. 1400 peche, peoche, "fleshy fruit of the peach tree" (late 12c. as a surname), from Old French pesche "peach, peach tree" (Old North French peske, Modern French pêche), and directly from Medieval Latin pesca, from Late Latin pessica, variant of persica "peach, peach tree," fro
    higgledy-piggledy
    hocus-pocus, hotch-potch, hugger-mugger, humdrum, hum-strum, hurry-scurry, jibber-jabber, prittle-prattle, shilly-shally, tittle-tattle...
    mouth
    Old English muþ "oral opening of an animal or human; opening of anything, door, gate," from Proto-Germanic *muntha- (source also of Old Saxon, Old Frisian muth, Old Norse munnr, Danish mund, Middle Dutch mont, Dutch mond, Old High German mund, German Mund, Gothic munþs "mouth"),
    speak
    Middle English speken, from Old English specan, variant of sprecan "to utter words articulately without singing, have or use the power of speech; make a speech; hold discourse" with others (class V strong verb; past tense spræc, past participle sprecen), from Proto-Germanic *spre
    ratchet
    "pivoted piece designed to fit into the teeth of a ratchet-wheel, permitting the wheel to rotate in one direction but not in the other," 1650s, rochet, from French rochet "bobbin, spindle," from Italian rocchetto "spool, ratchet," diminutive of rocca "distaff," possibly from a Ge
    chatter
    early 13c., chateren "to twitter, make quick, shrill sounds" (of birds), "to gossip, talk idly or thoughtlessly" (of persons), earlier cheateren, chiteren, of echoic origin. Compare Dutch koeteren "jabber," Danish kvidre "twitter, chirp." Of teeth, "make a rattling noise from col
    sign
    early 13c., signe, "gesture or motion of the hand," especially one meant to express thought or convey an idea, from Old French signe "sign, mark," from Latin signum "identifying mark, token, indication, symbol; proof; military standard, ensign; a signal, an omen; sign in the heav
    sing
    Middle English singen, from Old English singan "to chant, sing," especially in joy or merriment; "celebrate, or tell in song" (class III strong verb; past tense sang, past participle sungen), from Proto-Germanic *sengwan (source also of Old Saxon singan, Old Frisian sionga, Middl

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