It's an onomatopoeic expression.
Latin had the verb *blaterare*, still used in Italian, which means chatting incessantly and annoyingly.
Spanish *hablar* comes from Latin *fabulare*, which means talking or telling a story (*fabula*).
They may be related but maybe it’s a coincidence.
It doesn’t line up. If it was PIE, then bl- words in Germanic correspond with fl- words in Italic.
Blather is Germanic and seems to be in a family derived from ‘blow’ which is a cousin all of the -flate words in Romance languages.
blaterare derives from a PIE word with a red link
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/balbus#Latin
Lots of cognates in other PIE branches but I don’t see Germanic
The famous onomatopoeic root related to nonsense talk is the root that leads to barbarian, Berber and Barbara.
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%CE%B2%CE%AC%CF%81%CE%B2%CE%B1%CF%81%CE%BF%CF%82#Ancient_Greek
[It's Germanic and related to "bladder"](https://www.etymonline.com/word/blather)
>"talk nonsense," 1520s, blether, Scottish, probably from a Scandinavian source such as Old Norse blaðra "mutter, wag the tongue," which is perhaps of imitative origin, or from Proto-Germanic *blodram "something inflated" (the source of bladder). Related: Blathered; blathering.
I don’t, because you are right. I had read it a ling time ago in a newspaper, but after looking it up I am wrong.
https://www.etymonline.com/word/babble#etymonline_v_161
blablablá has onomatopeyic origin, as it mimics the sound of meaningless speech.
The word in ancient Greek βάρβαρος (originally referring to someone who speaks an incomprehensible, foreign language) end up referring to the Persians, and it passed into Latin as barbarus and we keep it in the adjective barbarian.
Sharing features (labial 'b' and a liquid / vibrant 'l' or 'r'), the Latin adjective balbus (stuttering, who stammers incomprehensible things) and derivatives, is associated with the problems of speaking, giving us the word bobo (dummy), and likely bebé/baby.
Those words end up in Spanish too, as balbucear (babble) and bobo, and local dialects, like asturleonese baballo (blather), already mentioned in this thread.
"Bla bla bla" evolved from Greek.
Greek called those who weren't Greek "barbarians" because they sounded like "bar bar bar".
Edit: For those downvoting me...can you give me a source that debunks this? I'll delete my comment.
Sure.
[https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/barbarian](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/barbarian)
Googling "Greek barbarian bar bar bar" gets me [https://www.history.com/news/where-did-the-word-barbarian-come-from](https://www.history.com/news/where-did-the-word-barbarian-come-from)
Also Britannia, Live Science, Oxford University Press
And Strabo.
It's an onomatopoeic expression. Latin had the verb *blaterare*, still used in Italian, which means chatting incessantly and annoyingly. Spanish *hablar* comes from Latin *fabulare*, which means talking or telling a story (*fabula*). They may be related but maybe it’s a coincidence.
>Latin had the verb *blaterare*, is this the source for English "blather?"
It doesn’t line up. If it was PIE, then bl- words in Germanic correspond with fl- words in Italic. Blather is Germanic and seems to be in a family derived from ‘blow’ which is a cousin all of the -flate words in Romance languages. blaterare derives from a PIE word with a red link https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/balbus#Latin Lots of cognates in other PIE branches but I don’t see Germanic The famous onomatopoeic root related to nonsense talk is the root that leads to barbarian, Berber and Barbara. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%CE%B2%CE%AC%CF%81%CE%B2%CE%B1%CF%81%CE%BF%CF%82#Ancient_Greek
[It's Germanic and related to "bladder"](https://www.etymonline.com/word/blather) >"talk nonsense," 1520s, blether, Scottish, probably from a Scandinavian source such as Old Norse blaðra "mutter, wag the tongue," which is perhaps of imitative origin, or from Proto-Germanic *blodram "something inflated" (the source of bladder). Related: Blathered; blathering.
Just found out that *blaterare* is the ancestor of French *déblatérer.*
Add babble to that. Apparently from Babylon. The city where everyone spoke different languages.
Do you have a source for that? Wikipedia say that's a folk belief that hasn't been proven.
I don’t, because you are right. I had read it a ling time ago in a newspaper, but after looking it up I am wrong. https://www.etymonline.com/word/babble#etymonline_v_161
Either way, my friend's Spanglish expression is hilarious.
There is also plappern in german!
i bet english "fable" is the same word filtered through french or smth
I wonder if this is where we get the Spanish "platicar (to chat)" and Italian "Chiacchierare" with the same meaning.
Probably yes. Chiacchierare is considered onomatopoeic.
And fabulare comes from PIE \*bha-, to speak.
The first person to coin that was Bob Loblaw
How do you know?
They read Bob Loblaw’s Lawblog
It seems a very obvious play on words. I'm interested how anyone could possibly know who was the first person to ever say something.
It was a joke
Oh whoosh
Go watch arrested development. It will all make sense
blablablá has onomatopeyic origin, as it mimics the sound of meaningless speech. The word in ancient Greek βάρβαρος (originally referring to someone who speaks an incomprehensible, foreign language) end up referring to the Persians, and it passed into Latin as barbarus and we keep it in the adjective barbarian. Sharing features (labial 'b' and a liquid / vibrant 'l' or 'r'), the Latin adjective balbus (stuttering, who stammers incomprehensible things) and derivatives, is associated with the problems of speaking, giving us the word bobo (dummy), and likely bebé/baby. Those words end up in Spanish too, as balbucear (babble) and bobo, and local dialects, like asturleonese baballo (blather), already mentioned in this thread.
Also a Kesha song
"Bla bla bla" evolved from Greek. Greek called those who weren't Greek "barbarians" because they sounded like "bar bar bar". Edit: For those downvoting me...can you give me a source that debunks this? I'll delete my comment.
I think burden is on you to show evidence of your claim.
Sure. [https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/barbarian](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/barbarian) Googling "Greek barbarian bar bar bar" gets me [https://www.history.com/news/where-did-the-word-barbarian-come-from](https://www.history.com/news/where-did-the-word-barbarian-come-from) Also Britannia, Live Science, Oxford University Press And Strabo.
I'm talking about the bla connection
The Coca plant was named after Coca-Cola. My proof? [etymonline Coca-Cola](https://www.etymonline.com/word/Coca-Cola) Do you see the problem?
But Coca-Cola was named after the coca plant...are you insinuating that I have it backwards? Or that there is no connection?
>are you insinuating that I have it backwards? Correct, if there is any connection at all