rabblement

[prettygoodword]

rabblement (RAB-uhl-muhnt) - n., a tumult, disturbance; a rabble, disorderly crowd.


No longer much in use, alas, but it's an old one: coined in the 1530s from rabble, which itself is of murky Middle English origin.

---L.

Comments

[thistleingrey.livejournal.com]

Less murky than some. Of rabble v., OED3 says,

Apparently cognate with or formed similarly to Middle Dutch rabbelen to speak indistinctly (Dutch rabbelen (regional (south)) to speak hurriedly or indistincly, (regional (Flemish)) to talk about trifles), German regional (Low German: Lüneburg) rabbeln to speak hurriedly and thoughtlessly, Swedish rabbla to babble, talk indistinctly or monotonously (18th cent.), Danish rable (compare early modern Danish roble to work carelessly), ultimately of imitative origin; compare -le suffix 3. Compare Old Icelandic rabba to babble, Norwegian (Nynorsk) rabba to babble, talk nonsense. Compare also the apparently unrelated classical Latin rabula ranting speaker (see rabulous adj.). Compare earlier babble v.1 and also brabble v.

[prettygoodword.livejournal.com]

I wonder which of those germanic variations appeared first ...

[thistleingrey.livejournal.com]

I'd vote Dutch/Low German as most likely source for English usage, given the century for the latter (late fourteenth into fifteenth). Cleasby-Vigfusson gives the Old Icelandic usage as from Karlamagnússaga, and thus it is suspect from a purist's standpoint, since a multilingual person (at least a person who could read multiple langs, even if not able to speak all of them) created that text. "Earlier" babble v.1, btw, isn't much earlier--the Nero Ancrene Wisse is mid-C13.

[thistleingrey.livejournal.com]

(Also, gosh, thank goodness for quick web access to various dictionaries and references.)

[larryhammer]

Indeed.

---L.