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Origin and history of confabulate

confabulate(v.)

"talk familiarly together, chat," 1610s, from confabulatus, past participle of Latin confabulari "to converse together," from assimilated form of com "with, together" (see con-) + fabulari "to talk, chat," from fabula "a tale" (from PIE root *bha- (2) "to speak, tell, say"). Psychiatric sense is from 1924. Earlier verb was confable (c. 1500), from Old French confabuler. Related: Confabulated; confabulating; confabulator; confabulatory.

also from 1610s

Entries linking to confabulate

*bha-(2)

*bhā-; Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to speak, tell, say."

It might form all or part of: abandon; affable; anthem; antiphon; aphasia; aphonia; aphonic; apophasis; apophatic; ban (n.1) "proclamation or edict;" ban (v.); banal; bandit; banish; banlieue; banns (n.); bifarious; blame; blaspheme; blasphemy; boon (n.); cacophony; confess; contraband; defame; dysphemism; euphemism; euphony; fable; fabulous; fado; fairy; fame; famous; fandango; fatal; fate; fateful; fatuous; fay; gramophone; heterophemy; homophone; ineffable; infamous; infamy; infant; infantile; infantry; mauvais; megaphone; microphone; monophonic; nefandous; nefarious; phatic; -phone; phone (n.2) "elementary sound of a spoken language;" phoneme; phonetic; phonic; phonics; phono-; pheme; -phemia; Polyphemus; polyphony; preface; profess; profession; professional; professor; prophecy; prophet; prophetic; quadraphonic; symphony; telephone; xylophone.

It might also be the source of: Greek pheme "speech, voice, utterance, a speaking, talk," phōnē "voice, sound" of a human or animal, also "tone, voice, pronunciation, speech," phanai "to speak;" Sanskrit bhanati "speaks;" Latin fari "to say," fabula "narrative, account, tale, story," fama "talk, rumor, report; reputation, public opinion; renown, reputation;" Armenian ban, bay "word, term;" Old Church Slavonic bajati "to talk, tell;" Old English boian "to boast," ben "prayer, request;" Old Irish bann "law."

con-

word-forming element meaning "together, with," sometimes merely intensive; it is the form of com- used in Latin before consonants except -b-, -p-, -l-, -m-, or -r-. In native English formations (such as costar), co- tends to be used where Latin would use con-.

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    confer
    1530s, "examine by comparison;" 1540s (intransitive) "consult together on some special subject;" 1560s, "bestow as a gift or permanent possession," from Old French conférer (14c.) "to give; to converse; to compare," from Latin conferre "to bring together," figuratively "to compar
    consult
    "ask advice of, seek the opinion of as a guide to one's own judgment," 1520s, from French consulter (16c.), from Latin consultare "consult, take the advice of," frequentative of consulere "to take counsel, meet and consider," originally probably "to call together," as in consuler
    chatter
    early 13c., chateren "to twitter, make quick, shrill sounds" (of birds), "to gossip, talk idly or thoughtlessly" (of persons), earlier cheateren, chiteren, of echoic origin. Compare Dutch koeteren "jabber," Danish kvidre "twitter, chirp." Of teeth, "make a rattling noise from col
    conserve
    "to keep safe, preserve from loss or decay," late 14c., from Old French conserver (9c.), from Latin conservare "to keep, preserve, keep intact, guard," from assimilated form of com-, here perhaps an intensive prefix (see com-), + servare "keep watch, maintain" (from PIE root *ser
    converse
    mid-14c., "to move about, live, dwell; live or behave in a certain way" (senses now obsolete), from Old French and French converser "to talk, open communication between," also "to live, dwell, inhabit, reside" (12c.), and directly from Latin conversari "to live, dwell, live with,
    ratchet
    "pivoted piece designed to fit into the teeth of a ratchet-wheel, permitting the wheel to rotate in one direction but not in the other," 1650s, rochet, from French rochet "bobbin, spindle," from Italian rocchetto "spool, ratchet," diminutive of rocca "distaff," possibly from a Ge
    natter
    "grumble, chatter aimlessly, nag," 1829, northern England dialect variant of gnatter "to chatter, grumble," earlier (18c.) "to nibble away," probably of echoic origin. Related: Nattered; nattering. As a noun, 1866, from the verb. In the United States today, we have more than our
    discuss
    late 14c., discussen, "to examine, investigate," from Latin discuss-, past participle stem of discutere "to dash to pieces, agitate, strike or shake apart," in Late Latin and Medieval Latin also "to discuss, examine, investigate," from dis- "apart" (see dis-) + quatere "to shake"
    make-up
    also makeup, "manner in which something is put together," 1821, from the verbal phrase (see make (v.) + up (adv.)). To make up as "build, collect into one form by bringing together" is from late 14c., also "prepare." It is attested from late 15c. as "supply as an equivalent," fro
    gossip
    Old English godsibb "sponsor, godparent," from God + sibb "relative" (see sibling). The sense was extended in Middle English to "a familiar acquaintance, a friend, neighbor" (c. 1300), especially to women friends invited to attend a birth, later to "anyone engaging in familiar or

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