Meaning

noun gibberish resembling the sounds of a baby

verb utter meaningless sounds, like a baby, or utter in an incoherent way

verb to talk foolishly

originFrom Middle English babelen, from Old English *bæblian, also wæflian (“to talk foolishly”), from Proto-West Germanic *bablōn, *wablōn, variants of *babalōn, from Proto-Germanic *babalōną (“to chatter”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰa-bʰa-, perhaps a reduplication of Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂- (“to say”), or a variant of Proto-Indo-European *baba- (“to talk vaguely, mumble”), or a merger of the…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0