Online Etymology Dictionary

gossip: O.E. godsibb "godparent," from God + sibb "relative" (see sibling). Extended in M.E. to "any familiar acquaintance" (mid-14c.), especially to woman friends invited to attend a birth, later to "anyone engaging in familiar or idle talk" (1560s). Sense extended 1811 to "trifling talk, groundless rumor." The verb meaning "to talk idly about the affairs of others" is from 1620s.
yenta: "gossip, busybody," 1923, from Yente Telebende, comic strip gossip in 1920s-30s writing of Yiddish newspaper humorist B. Kovner (pen-name of Jacob Adler) in the "Jewish Daily Forward." It was a common Yiddish fem. proper name, alt. from Yentl and said to be ult. from It. gentile "kind, gentle," earlier "noble, high-born" (see gentle).
kaffeeklatsch: "gossip over cups of coffee," 1888, from Ger., from kaffee "coffee" + klatsch "gossip" (see klatsch).
scuttlebutt: 1805, "water cask kept on a ship's deck," from scuttle "opening in a ship's deck" (see scuttle (v.2)) + butt "barrel." Earlier scuttle cask (1777). Meaning "rumor, gossip" first recorded 1901, originally nautical slang, traditionally said to be from sailors' custom of gathering around the scuttlebutt to gossip.
flibbertigibbet: 1540s, "chattering gossip, flighty woman," probably a nonsense word meant to sound like fast talking; as the name of a devil or fiend it dates from c.1600.
quidnunc: "gossip-monger," 1709, formed from L. quid "what" and nunc "now," to describe someone forever asking "What's the news?"
chatter: early 13c., chateren "to twitter, gossip," earlier cheateren, chiteren, of echoic origin.
ana: or -ana "collection of sayings, gossip, etc. connected with a person or place," originally the neut. pl. ending of L. adjectives ending in -anus "pertaining to," early 18c.
klatsch: 1953, from Ger., "gossip," which is said in Ger. sources to be onomatopoeic (cf. klatschen "clap hands," klatsch "a single clap of the hands").
latrine: c.1300, from L. latrina, contraction of lavatrina "washbasin, washroom," from lavatus, pp. of lavare "to wash" (see lave) + -trina, suffix denoting "workplace." Its reappearance in 1640s is probably a re-borrowing from Fr.; esp. of a privy of a camp, barracks, college, hospital, etc. Latrine rumor "baseless gossip" (of the kind that spreads in conversations in latrines) is military slang, first recorded 1918.
compadre: "companion," 1834, Amer.Eng., from Sp. compadre "godfather," hence "benefactor, friend," from M.L. compater, from com- "with" + pater "father." (cf. compere, also gossip).
dirt: 15c. metathesis of M.E. drit, drytt "mud, dirt, dung" (c.1300), from O.N. drit, cognate with O.E. dritan, from P.Gmc. *dritanan. Meaning "gossip" first attested 1926 (in Hemingway); dirt bike is 1960s. Dirt-cheap is from 1821.
charade: 1776, from Fr. charade, from Prov. charrada "long talk, chatter," of obscure origin, perhaps from charrar "to chatter, gossip," of echoic origin. Originally not silent, merely relying on enigmatic descriptions of the words or syllables; the silent form was dumb charades. Welsh siarad obviously is a loan-word from Fr. or Eng., but its meaning of "speak, a talk" is closer to the Prov. original.
anecdote: 1670s, "secret or private stories," from Fr., from Gk. anekdota "things unpublished," neut. pl. of anekdotos, from an- "not" + ekdotos "published," from ek- "out" + didonai "to give" (see date (1)). Procopius' 6c. Anecdota, unpublished memoirs of Emperor Justinian full of court gossip, gave the word a sense of "revelation of secrets," which decayed in Eng. to "brief, amusing stories" (1761). Related: Anecdotal (1836). Anecdotage "garrulous old age" is a jocular formation of De Quincey's from 1823.
gospel: O.E. godspel "good news," from god "good" + spel "story, message," translation of L. bona adnuntiatio, itself a translation of Gk. euangelion "reward for bringing good news." First element of the O.E. word had a long "o," but it shifted under mistaken assoc. with God. Gospel-gossip was Addison's word ("Spectator," 1711) for "one who is always talking of sermons, texts, etc."
aunt: c.1300, from Anglo-Fr. aunte, from O.Fr. ante (Mod.Fr. tante, from a 13c. variant), from L. amita "paternal aunt" dim. of *amma a baby-talk or non-I.E. word for "mother" (cf. Gk. amma "mother," O.N. amma "grandmother," M.Ir. ammait "old hag," Heb. em, Arabic umm "mother"). Extended senses include "an old woman, a gossip" (1580s); "a procuress" (1670s); and "any benevolent woman," in Amer.Eng., where auntie was recorded since c.1790 as "a term often used in accosting elderly women."
item: late 14c., from L. item (adv.) "likewise, just so," used to introduce a new fact or statement, probably from ita "thus," id "it" + adv. ending -tem (cf. idem "the same"). Thus "a statement or maxim" (of the kind formerly introduced by the word item), first recorded 1560s. Meaning "detail of information" (especially in a newspaper) is from 1819; item "sexually linked unmarried couple" is 1970, probably from notion of being an item in the gossip columns. Noun sense of "an article of any kind" (1570s) developed from earlier adv. sense of "moreover, in addition," which was used before every article in a list (such as an inventory or bill). Itemize coined 1864.
tale: O.E. talu "story, tale, the action of telling," from P.Gmc. *talo (cf. Du. taal "speech, language"), from PIE base *del- "to recount, count." The secondary Eng. sense of "number, numerical reckoning" (c.1200) probably was the primary one in Gmc., cf. teller (see tell) and O.Fris. tale, M.Du. tal "number," O.S. tala "number," O.H.G. zala, Ger. Zahl "number." The ground sense of the Mod.Eng. word in its main meaning, then, might have been "an account of things in their due order." Related to talk and tell. Meaning "things divulged that were given secretly, gossip" is from c.1350; first record of talebearer "tattletale" is 1478.
sibling: "brother or sister," 1903, modern revival (in anthropology) of O.E. sibling "relative, kinsman," from sibb (adj.) "kinship, relationship" (1500; surviving as sib, chiefly in Scottish), from P.Gmc. *sebjo "blood relation, relative," prop. "one's own" (cf. O.S. sibba, O.Fris., M.Du. sibbe, O.H.G. sippa, Ger. Sippe, Goth. sibja "kin, kindred"), from PIE s(w)e-bh(o)-, from base *swe- (see idiom). Related to the second element in gossip.
"The word 'sib' or 'sibling' is coming into use in genetics in the English-speaking world, as an equivalent of the convenient German term 'Geschwister' " [E.&C. Paul, "Human Heredity," 1930]
Short form sib is attested from 1957.
scandal: 1580s, "discredit caused by irreligious conduct," from M.Fr. scandale, from L.L. scandalum "cause for offense, stumbling block, temptation," from Gk. skandalon "a trap or snare laid for an enemy," in N.T., metaphorically as "a stumbling block, offense;" originally "trap with a springing device," from PIE *skand- "jump" (cf. Gk. skandalizein "to make to stumble, give offense to" someone; see scan; cf. also slander). Attested from early 13c., but the modern word is a reborrowing. Meaning "malicious gossip" is from 1590s; sense of "person whose conduct is a disgrace" is from 1630s. Scandalize (late 15c.) originally meant "make a public scandal of;" sense of "shock by doing something improper" first recorded 1640s. Scandal sheet "sensational newspaper" is from 1939.