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yabber

 
Dictionary: yab·ber   (yăb'ər) pronunciation
Australian.
n.
Jabber.

tr. & intr.v., -bered, -ber·ing, -bers.
To jabber (something) or engage in jabbering.

[From Australian pidgin, perhaps from Wuywurung (Aboriginal language of southeast Australia) yaba, to talk.]


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Wordsmith Words: yabber
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(YAB-uhr)
verb tr. intr.
To talk; converse.
noun (also yabberer)
Talk; conversation.

Etymology
Australian pidgin, probably from aboriginal yaba.

Usage
"Is it French or Queensland's blacks' yabber? Blest if I can understand a word of it." — Rolf Boldrewood; Robbery Under Arms; 1888.

"Floating between Australia and England as the Centre does, 'yabber' seems to suit our positioning. We invite any contributions to this column devoted to conversing and sharing news about things Australian." — Menzies Centre for Australian Studies, King's College, University of London, Newsletter, Dec 1999.


Word Origins: yabber
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from Wuywurung
This word originated in Australia

G'day! At the September 2000 Olympics in Sydney, with the world's attention on Australia, what do you get from media commentators? Yabber, yabber, yabber. In other words: talk, talk, talk. Every collection of Australian slang agrees that yabber is the Australian name for talk, chat, or conversation. It's not as if we haven't occasionally heard yabber in other parts of the English-speaking world, but non-Australians tend to use it harshly: "Stop your yabbering!" In Australia, on the other hand, yabber is what you do to pass the day. And if you can't yabber with a mate face-to-face, you can always send a paper yabber--a letter.

English-speaking Australians have been yabbering about yabber since the mid-nineteenth century. In 1855, regarding an uprising of gold miners at the Eureka Stockade near Melbourne, Raffaello Carboni wrote, "There was further a great waste of yabber-yabber about the diggers not being represented in the Legislative Council."

Yabber may seem to have derived from jabber, which has been in English since 1500 (apparently imitating the sound of speaking), and in any other part of the world that would be a good guess as to its origin. But yabber seems to have originated in Australia with yaba meaning "speak" in the Wuywurung aboriginal language. The similarity to jabber undoubtedly helped its migration to English.

Another English word from Wuywurung is the name of a tree, the mallee (1845). It is a slow-growing eucalyptus with wood so heavy it doesn't float and stems that grow from water-filled underground roots.

But Wuywurung itself is extinct. It was a member of the Pama-Nyungan branch of the Australian language family and was spoken in western Victoria, in the southeastern part of the country.



Translations: Yabber
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Dansk (Danish)
v. tr. - sludre, jabbe
v. intr. - sludre, jabbe
n. - jabben, sludder, sniksnak

Nederlands (Dutch)
geklets, kletsen

Français (French)
v. tr. - parler vite ou de façon inintelligible, incohérente ou insensée
v. intr. - parler vite ou de façon inintelligible, incohérente ou insensée
n. - (Austral) baragouin, charabia, discours rapide

Deutsch (German)
n. - Geplapper
v. - plappern

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - φλυαρία, πάρλα
v. - φλυαρώ

Italiano (Italian)
discorso, chiacchierare, parlare

Português (Portuguese)
n. - conversa (f)
v. - tagarelar

Русский (Russian)
болтовня, трепаться

Español (Spanish)
v. tr. - hablar, conversar
v. intr. - hablar, conversar
n. - conversación, lenguaje

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - pladder, blabbel, rabblande
v. - pladdra, babbla, rabbla

中文(简体)(Chinese (Simplified))
急促而含糊不清地说..., 急促而含糊不清地说话, 谈话, 闲聊

中文(繁體)(Chinese (Traditional))
v. tr. - 急促而含糊不清地說...
v. intr. - 急促而含糊不清地說話
n. - 談話, 閒聊

한국어 (Korean)
v. tr. - 수다 떨다
v. intr. - 수다 떨다
n. - 수다

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - お喋り
v. - お喋りをする

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) دردشه (فعل) يدردش‏

עברית (Hebrew)
v. tr. - ‮דיבר, פיטפט‬
v. intr. - ‮דיבר, פיטפט‬
n. - ‮דיבור, פטפטן (אוסטרליה)‬


 
 
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Word Origins. The World in So Many Words, by Allan A. Metcalf. Copyright © 1999 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
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