# Gibberish



## jonquiliser

What's it called in other languages? Gibberish, that is.

Thank you


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## dn88

Hello jonquiliser, nice to see you! 

In Polish it can be called "bełkot".

Kind regards,

dn88


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## suslik

In Estonian there are 3 words for this (there might be even more, but I can't remember at the moment) 

*loba, mula, vadin*


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## badgrammar

I think in French they say "charabiah", as in "C'est du charabiah"...  It sounds to me like it comes from Arabic, and is most likely pjorative in origin.  I'll have to find out to better answer the question...


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## Whodunit

The best equivalent in German I could think of is _*Kauderwelsch*_.


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## DrWatson

We have a rather amusing expression in Finnish for Gibberish, *siansaksa*, which stands for "pig German"


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## jonquiliser

dn88, pleasure is mine  
Thank you all for these most fascinating and useful little words - it's important to be able to state in what language your trying to say something, hehe  I've seen "double Dutch" in some dictionaries - does that have this meaning specifically, or?


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## Chazzwozzer

Well, I think* "Tarzanca"* would be a good equivalent for it. I'm sure you all know who Tarzan is, and _Tarzanca _is the language he speaks as we assume in Turkish! 

The suffix _-ca_ denotes languages, as in _Almanca. (Alman: a German person)_


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## Joannes

In Dutch: *koeterwaals*

*Een koeterwaal* used to mean (in German): 'traveling merchant of _Welsche_ / _Waalsche_ (= Italian) origin'

 Nowadays *koeterwaals* could be reanalysed as *koeter*-*waals*. *Waals*: the language of Wallonia (French); *koeter-*: some weird morpheme that only occurs in this expression (not very exceptional), apparently with a negative connotation.

 This analysis made this Dutchman decide on a parallel *koetervlaams* to denote the Flemish _tussentaal_. He didn't have many followers though...


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## badgrammar

Joannes said:


> In Dutch: *koeterwaals*.


 
Very interesting, in English you could say "to caterwaul" which I believe means to make a bunch of loud, incoherent noise...
*Een koeterwaal* used to mean (in German): 'traveling merchant of _Welsche_ / _Waalsche_ (= Italian) origin'

 Nowadays *koeterwaals* could be reanalysed as *koeter*-*waals*. *Waals*: the language of Wallonia (French); *koeter-*: some weird morpheme that only occurs in this expression (not very exceptional), apparently with a negative connotation.

 This analysis made this Dutchman decide on a parallel *koetervlaams* to denote the Flemish _tussentaal_. He didn't have many followers though..


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## Outsider

In my view, there are two nuances to the word "gibberish":

1) _Nonsense._ In this case, a possible translation in Portuguese is *disparate(s)*. There are others, such as (in Portugal) *treta(s)*.

2) _Incomprehensible language._ In this case, we have the word *algarviada*, a reference to the Algarve, the last region of Portugal to be conquered to the Moors, which presumably remained Arabized for a longer time. In olden days, the king of Portugal often called himself "King of Portugal and the Algarve" (sometimes "the Algarves").


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## Nizo

An *Esperanto* speaker would translate _gibberish_ as _volapukaĵo_ or _volapukaĵoj_.  _Estas por mi volapukaĵo!_ is the Esperanto equivalent of the English expression _it's all Greek to me!_  The term _volapukaĵo_ comes from the name of the constructed language Volapük, which was an early rival of Esperanto but was much more complicated, and in the end, far less successful.


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## Kraus

In *Italian*: borbottio.


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## Lello4ever

Kraus said:


> In *Italian*: borbottio.


 
Not the right translation. Borbottio means grumbling.
I can't figure out a word to say gibberish in italian, maybe you can just say "parole senza senso"


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## Andreas_Jensen

Danish: 

"Sludder" or "vrøvl"

And interestingly enough we also have this german/dutch/english one, although I'd spell it:

"Kraudervelsk"


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## Flaminius

*Japanese:

*ちんぷんかんぷん
chimpun-kampun
This is purely gibberish in itself.  I cannot provide any etymology (well, just like any respectable Japanese word  )


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## faranji

In Spain's Spanish:

gibberish (unintelligible language): jerigonza, galimatías, algarabía (from _al arabiya_, ie. "Arabic language")

gibberish (nonsense): chorradas, disparates, paridas.


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## Kriviq

In Bulgarian: безсмислица/bezsmislitsa, нелепост/nelepost, брътвеж/bratvezh.


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## deine

Lithuanian: tauškalai, svaičiojimas.


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## jonquiliser

Thank you very much, all! Very interesting to see what associations different languages reflect  

Out, yup, it's the second meaning is was mainly after, i.e. 'incomprehensible language'. This would be _rotvälska_ in Swedish.


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## Spectre scolaire

Chazzwozzer said:
			
		

> Well, I think* "Tarzanca"* would be a good equivalent for it.


 I understand that _Tarzanca_ is rather a “language” that you speak when no common language is availble between two persons. ‘Speaking with hands and feet’ would probably be adequate. It doesn’t really mean ‘gibberish’ because you try to make the best out of the situation whereas ‘gibberish’ is “unintelligible or meaningless language”. For this term Turkish has _saçma_, “nonsense” and _saçma sapan_, “incongruous talk”.

Greek has σαχλαμάρες [saχlamáres], apparently very close to Turkish saçma, but no link has been proven – as far as I know. There is also αλαμπουρνέζικα [alamburnézika], “unintelligible speech/language” (of unknown origin).




			
				Andreas_Jensen said:
			
		

> And interestingly enough we also have this german/dutch/english one, although I'd spell it: "Kraudervelsk"


 I can’t see why Danish should have an *r* here while the alleged origin, German, etc., does not. Googling your r version does not confirm it.

By the way, French has an interesting word:

baragouin, “unintelligible language” < Breton bara, “bread” + gwin, “wine”. This is how Breton pilgrims asked to stay overnight – presumably with a big question mark...
 baragwinn? ​


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## Chazzwozzer

Spectre scolaire said:


> I understand that _Tarzanca_ is rather a “language” that you speak when no common language is availble between two persons. ‘Speaking with hands and feet’ would probably be adequate. It doesn’t really mean ‘gibberish’ because you try to make the best out of the situation whereas ‘gibberish’ is “unintelligible or meaningless language”.


_Tarzanca _*also* means that, true. As it is not a word you might find in a dictionary, I cannot prove that it's not the most popular use of this word.



Spectre scolaire said:


> For this term Turkish has _saçma_, “nonsense” and _saçma sapan_, “incongruous talk”.


A small correction:
_saçma sapan_ is an adjective and means _nonsensical_. To mean _incongruous talk_, I'd say _saçma sapan laf/söz_.

By the way, how do you translate the following into Turkish?
I think they speak just _gibberish_.
That sounds _gibberish _to me!


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## Cosol

I heard some Italian people use the word _Esperanto_ for unknown languages like Esperanto has _volapukaĵo_. It is probably that word's most common meaning.


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## Spectre scolaire

I am sure you’re right about ‘Tarzanca’. I was thinking about Jane... Tarzanca marzanca idare ediyorlar işte. Often used between spouses of mixed nationalities... Which reminds me of ‘maymunca laflar konuşmak’.




			
				Chazzwozzer said:
			
		

> _ saçma sapan_ is an adjective and means _nonsensical_. To mean _incongruous talk_, I'd say _saçma sapan laf/söz_.


 Of course! I made it a ‘stranded adjective’...

As for your questions, I am waiting for some more exuberant linguistic effusions than:
1. Anlaşılmaz laflar söylüyorlar. (rather formal) / Saçma saçma konuşuyor [bu herifler]. (familiar - often used in negated imperative, however)
2. Bana/bence saçma gibi geldi.

It is very easy to slide semantically from “unintelligible talk” via “nonsense” to “rubbish talk”. When you say “That’s just gibberish”, you can easily infer “nonsense” which in vulgar terms would be “bullshit” and correspond to Turkish ‘bok bok konuşuyor’ (vulgar). I am searching my mind for something like *gobbledygook* in Turkish, but I think one has to be a native to cough it up. It would probably come forth in a moment of need... (For the time being I don’t even live in Turkey).
​


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## J.F. de TROYES

badgrammar said:


> I think in French they say "charabiah", as in "C'est du charabiah"... It sounds to me like it comes from Arabic, and is most likely pjorative in origin. I'll have to find out to better answer the question...


 

You are right :  " C'est du charabia "  is used with this meaning like "C'est du baragoin" as well. Nothing sure about its etymology; what we know is that the word which appears in the 19th century was used to name scornfully the " Auvergnats" migrants  who  would come to Paris from their Auvergne province for a job ( They were known to deal with selling coal ).
Actually the word was thought to come from th Arabic "al-gharbiyya" ( = Western Arabic ) ; this hypotesis does'nt look very likely because at that time there were no Arab migrants in France and anyway the Auvergnats who came fom the center of the country had nothing to do with them.
According to a more recent hypotesis the word "charabia" may have come from the Provençal "charra" ( to talk away ) with a stem meaning a confusedly sounding speech. I'l add the Auvergnats were told to pronounce "s" like "sh" ( "ch" in French ), what might have contributed to calling them "charabia" !


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## J.F. de TROYES

faranji said:


> In Spain's Spanish:
> 
> gibberish (unintelligible language): jerigonza, galimatías, algarabía (from _al arabiya_, ie. "Arabic language")
> 
> gibberish (nonsense): chorradas, disparates, paridas.


 
French also uses "galimatias" with the same meaning ; the synonymous "charabia" was thought to come from "algarabía", but this etymology is now much debated. Phrases like "C'est du Chinois" (= This is Chinese ) or "Cest du petit nègre " ( = "small negro" ! ) are also used.


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## Outsider

Outsider said:


> *2) Incomprehensible language. In this case, we have the word algarviada, a reference to the Algarve, the last region of Portugal to be conquered to the Moors, which presumably remained Arabized for a longer time. In olden days, the king of Portugal often called himself "King of Portugal and the Algarve" (sometimes "the Algarves").*


I've been busted!  

The Portuguese word is actually *algaraviada*, and yes, it is a cognate of the Spanish word. Should have checked this one! (But I could swear that I've heard people pronounce it as _algarviada_!)

This dictionary gives the same etymology: from Arabic _al arabiya_.


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## Spectre scolaire

We are now encroaching on *Origin of “charabia”* in the forum Etymology and history of languages.
​PS: Veuillez corriger “est devenu” > “soit devenue” dans mon post.


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## barbiegood

In Hungarian:

badarság - that is kind of a nonsense, what somebody says, also language
zagyvaság - same (interesting enough we have a river called Zagyva, i guess it got the name from being messed up? )


össze-visszaság - more of a pell-mell
értelmetlenség - that would be literary senselessness


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## Nizo

Another word for gibberish in Esperanto is _galimatio_.  It comes from the French _galimatias_.


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## HistofEng

Haitian Creole:

*Tenten* (which can also be used to describe something that's "useless")


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## jaxlarus

Spectre scolaire said:


> Greek has σαχλαμάρες [saχlamáres], apparently very close to Turkish saçma, but no link has been proven – as far as I know. There is also αλαμπουρνέζικα [alamburnézika], “unintelligible speech/language” (of unknown origin).



The word σαχλαμάρες is not of Turkish origin. It comes from σαχλός which means mawkish, mushy, insipid. Λες σαχλαμάρες would be "you're talking nonsense", rather than "you're gibbering". It's like ανοησίες, κουταμάρες, παλαβομάρες, βλακείες, μπαρούφες, αερολογίες, παπαρδέλες, κενολογίες, ασυναρτησίες, μπούρδες, or μ****ίες.

[formal, offensive, according to context]

If I had to translate gibberish, I'd go with αλαμπουρνέζικα, κορακίστικα, or ακαταλαβίστικα. For a language not understood or even Greek that makes no sense to the listener, κινέζικα (= Chinese) is commonly used.


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## kusurija

deine said:


> Lithuanian: tauškalai, svaičiojimas.


And "murmėti" (verb) (jabber)


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## Anatoli

*Russian:*

_Тарабарщина_ [tarab*a*rshchina] - incomprehensible (foreign) language.
There are many other words, though - the usage will depend on person's manners, education and mood


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## kusurija

Anatoli said:


> *Russian:*
> 
> _Тарабарщина_ [tarab*a*rshchina] - incomprehensible (foreign) language.


 
in Czech simillary Zulukafrenština or either (rarely) Zkufularenština - incomprehensible (foreign) language.
In such cases it doesn't mean the real Zulukafrench language.


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## robbie_SWE

In Romanian we say *galimatie* or *galimatias*. Another word would be *bolboroseală *or *bolborosire*. 

In Swedish you can also say *rappakalja*. 

 robbie


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## alex.raf

*Persian:*
Gholombeh-Solombeh قلمبه سولمبه
which is informal


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## Anatoli

Anatoli said:


> *Russian:*
> 
> _Тарабарщина_ [tarab*a*rshchina] - incomprehensible (foreign) language.
> There are many other words, though - the usage will depend on person's manners, education and mood



Addition to my previous post: in *Russian* "белеберда" [beleberd*a*] is also very popular to describe an unreadable text (in computing possibly caused by the wrong encoding).

* Chinese*:
乱麻 (traditional: 亂麻) [luànmá] mess; hodgepodge


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## apmoy70

Spectre scolaire said:


> ...
> Greek has σαχλαμάρες [saχlamáres], apparently very close to Turkish saçma, but no link has been proven – as far as I know. There is also αλαμπουρνέζικα [alamburnézika], “unintelligible speech/language” (of unknown origin).
> ......
> baragwinn? ​


Actually *«αλαμπουρνέζικα»* [a.laɱ.bur.ˈne̞.z̠i.ka] (neut. nom. pl.) comes for the Italian "alla burla" --> _for fun, for a joke_.

*«Σαχλαμάρες»* [s̠a.xla.ˈma.ɾe̞s̠] (fem. nom. pl.), *«σαχλαμάρα»* [s̠a.xla.ˈma.ɾa] (fem. nom. sing.) comes from the Classical adjective *«σαχνός» săkʰnós* --> _tender, mellow_, later, _(of tissue) porous, spongy, (fig.) empty, frivolous_ hence the MoGr adj. *«σαχλός»* [s̠a.ˈxlo̞s̠] --> _silly, corny_ (possibly a deverbative from the verb *«σώχω» sṓkʰō* also *«ψώχω» psṓkʰō*, *«ψῷ» psô̩*, *«ψαύω» psaúō* --> _to rub, grate, scratch_, all ω-vocalisms of Classical v. *«ψῆν» psên* (found only in Present infinitive) --> _to rub, grate, scratch, stroke, wipe_ (of unknown etymology, could be IE from the root *PseH- > Skt. प्साति (psāti), _to consume, eat_, Lith. sora, _millet_. Per Beekes though, the word is...Pre-Greek).
The suffix *«-μάρα»* [-ˈma.ɾa] is the feminine augmentative of neuter *«-μα»* [-ma] < Classical 3rd declension neuter suffix *«-μα» -mă*.


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## Penyafort

*Catalan:*

(unintelligible speech or writing)
*galimaties* [gəlimə'tiəs] (m.) -- From French _galimatias_, firstly used by Montaigne.

(nonsense)
*ximpleries* [ʃimpɫə'ɾiəs] (f. pl.) -- From _ximple_ 'fool, stupid', variant of _simple _'simple', from Latin _simplex_.
*bajanades* [bəʒə'naðəs] (f. pl.) -- From _bajà_ 'fool, stupid', from Latin _baianus_ 'from Baiae, an ancient town near Naples'.
*disbarats* [dizβə'ɾats] (m. pl) -- Probably from Spanish _disparates_ 'nonsense', altered by influence of _desbaratar_.

(incomprehensible, like double Dutch, to me/him/her...)
*com si em/li... diguessis Llúcia *(idiom) = "As if you call/tell me/him/her... Lucy" -- Tradition says it comes from a failed password given by some spies to the guards of the gates of Barcelona. It might well be related to saint Lucy, patroness of the blind, traditionally invoked in Catalonia against eye diseases.


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