Babbler (Hastings' Dictionary)
To 'babble' (a word supposed to be formed from the childish sound ba oa, with freq. term, le) is to talk incoherently, hence fool- ishly or unseasonably. ' Babbler ' is given in AV as tr. of ba'al /uillAshun (pa-v} Sys), lit. ' the lord of the tongue' (RV 'the charmer'), Ec 10" j XaTrnrr^t (RV ' braggart'), Sir 20' ; and (jirepixoXbyoi, Ac IV. In the last word there is a touch of something worse than babbling.
It was applied first to the crow, as the bird that picks up scattered grain <Wm/« ' a seed,' and Xf >-' ' to gather ') ; then to any ' parasite ' or ' hanger on,' who piciis up what he can in the marltet or harbour by his wits. Such an one is indifferent as to the obligation of his words, and so any mere prater may have been called a gpennologos. See Trench, On the AV,\t. 166 f. Babbling as a subst. is found in Pr 23^ ' who hath b.
' (n-f, RV 'complaining'); Sir 19» 20 (XaXid); 1 Ti 6", 2 Ti 2'« 'profane and vain b" {Kfvoipuivlai., lit. ' empty talkings '). J. Hastings.
This topic also has an entry in the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Both articles offer independent scholarly perspectives.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia on Babbler
Babbler bab'-ler ba`al ha-lashon; the King James Version of Ec 10:11 literally, "master of the tongue"; the Revised Version (British and American) CHARMER; lapistes, the King James Version of Ecclesiasticus 20:7; the Revised Version (British and American) BRAG; spermologos; the King James Version and the Revised Version (British and American) of Ac 17:18): The latter Greek word is used of birds, such as the crow, that live by picking up small seeds (sperma, "20 seed," legein, "to gather"), and of men, for "hangers on" and "parasites" who obtained their living by picking up odds and ends off merchants' carts in harbors and markets. It carries the "suggestion of picking up refuse and scraps, and in the literature of plagiarism without the capacity to use correctly" (Ramsay). The Athenian philosophers in calling Paul a spermologos, or "ignorant plagiarist," meant that he retailed odds and ends of knowledge which he had picked up from others, without possessing himself any system of thought or skill of language--without culture. In fact it was a fairly correct description of the Athenian…
References
- Orr, J. (ed.) (1915) The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Chicago: Howard-Severance Company. [Public Domain]
- Easton, M.G. (1893) Easton's Bible Dictionary. 3rd edn. Thomas Nelson. [Public Domain]
- Nave, O.J. (1897) Nave's Topical Bible. Topical Bible Publishing Co.. [Public Domain]
- Hastings, J. (ed.) (1909) A Dictionary of the Bible. Edinburgh: T&T Clark. [Public Domain]
- Smith, W. (ed.) (1884) Smith's Bible Dictionary. London: John Murray. [Public Domain]
- Fausset, A.R. (1878) Fausset's Bible Dictionary. [Public Domain]A Critical and Expository Bible Cyclopaedia