An archaic or dialectal form of gossip or gossiper; a person who spreads rumors or talks excessively about others.
From Middle English gossep, an early variant spelling of gossip, derived from god + sib (godsibling), referring to a godparent or close relation, which later evolved to mean an idle talker.
The word 'gossip' originally meant godparent because gossips were the people who attended baptisms and would chat together—over centuries, these baptismal attendees became so associated with casual chatter that the word's meaning completely flipped from a title of respect to describing idle talk.
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