English word Rubbish or Garbage?
The English word ‘Rubbish’ is an old word from Anglo-Norman French ‘rubbous’. Going back maybe a 1,000 years.
The Americans might use ‘Garbage’ from the Old Italian ‘garbuglio’ for ‘confusion’.
Maybe.. Talking rubbish = confusion.
They could also use the Anglo-Norman French garbage as the meaning for Offal.
An old English word ‘Garbage’ is a soup recipe from the 15th Century in a book called “A Noble Boke off Cookry” LCCN: 88195361. (http://medievalcookery.com/recipes/garbage.html)
To mak a garbage tak the heed the garbage the leuer the gessern the wings and the feet and wesche them and clene them and put them in a pot and cast ther to brothe of beef poudere of pepper clowes maces parsly saige mynced then step bred in the sam brothe and cast it to pouder of guingere venygar saffron and salt and serue it.
Also asked as ‘What’s the history behind the British word “rubbish” instead of “garbage”?’
The two words are used in similar fashions: Some people might talk rubbish, while others talk garbage.
Different countries have different words in their languages.
The main confusion is that the English speak English, while the Americans use a different version of English, but still call it English, instead of American.
When asking what the British speak, that opens up the different British languages, those spoken by the English, the Scottish and the Welsh.
The Welsh language, Welsh Cymraeg, member of the Brythonic group of the Celtic languages, spoken in Wales. britannica.com/topic/Welsh-language
The Scottish language, Scots, is directly descended from Northern English, which displaced Scots Gaelic in portions of Scotland in the 11th–14th centuries as a consequence of Anglo-Norman rule there. britannica.com/topic/Scots-language
The English language, English, originated in England. britannica.com/topic/English-language
Interesting notes on the English Language, but with other names:
Frisian, spoken by the inhabitants of the Dutch province of Friesland and the islands off the west coast of Schleswig, is the language most nearly related to Modern English.
Icelandic, the national language of Iceland, has changed little over the last thousand years, and is the living language most nearly resembling Old English in grammatical structure.
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