Etymologies

BY Emah Fox

Talk (tawk) v. to communicate; reveal/exchange information/ideas through speech n. act of speech; lecture; gossip; language; sounds imitative of speech

n. c1475 (speech, discourse) fr. v. 1225 ‘talken’ dim. of M.E. ‘tale’ (story)

Cheap (cheep) adj. inexpensive; poor quality; low value; stingy; achieved with little effort

fr O.E. ‘ceap’ n. (a purchase) fr. ‘ceapian’ v. (trade) Early Gmc fr L. ‘caupa’/’cauponis’ (petty tradesman, huckster) 1509 (favourable purchase), 1591 (common) (relative). By C14th meant any familiar acquaintance, esp. women invited to attend a birthing. By C16th referred to a flighty woman or one engaged in idle talk. By Modern meaning of trivial talk about others dates to C17th.

‘Gossip’ derived fr. O.E. ‘godsibb’ (godparent) fr. ‘God’ + ‘sibb’

“Life is far too important a thing ever to talk seriously about” – Oscar Wilde

“No age was e’er degenerate, Unless men held it at too cheap a rate, For in our likeness still we shape our fate.” – James Russell Lowell

“Talk sense to a fool and he calls you foolish” – Euripides

“What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly” – Thomas Paine

“The nice thing about egotists is that they don’t talk about other people.” - Lucille Harper

“The man is richest whose pleasures are the cheapest” – Henry David Thoreau

“They always talk who never think” – Matthew Prior

“You’d be surprised how much it costs to look this cheap” – Dolly Parton