It is worth going to some busy place - and instantly a person is surrounded by a lot of obscure sounds: talking merchants, music from the nearest cafe, the cries of disturbed birds. There is a definition for such noise - it is hubbub. A conspicuous word is often found as part of more complex concepts, but what does it mean? An immersion in the history of its occurrence, an attempt to understand related expressions from other languages will help to understand the term.
Eastern Europe or Iceland?
Linguist Vasmer did a fair amount of work and gave two complementary versions of the origin of the word. The first one points to the countries of Eastern Europe, where you can hear:
- homin;
- homon;
- gomon.
The literal translation “quarrel, noise” links them together, which implies the dissonance of the sounds produced, their inconsistency. It also involves the transition to raised tones in order to assert one's rightness over others. The second option led the researcher to the languages of the Germanic group. You can reveal the meaning of "hub" through the Old Norse gaman:
- joy;
- fun.
In this case, the English game or "game" will be related. In both of these cases, the speaker is referring to some noisy crowd.
How is the term interpreted?
Today in Russia the concept is devoid of positive or negative connotation. It only states a certain sound content of the space:
- noise of many voices;
- deaf speech;
- gam.
Depending on the dictionary, you may notice some discrepancy in interpretation. Some authors emphasize the impossibility of making out statements or isolating a specific voice. The latter indicate excessive loudness, while for the third, the key criterion is dissonance, lack of synchronism.
In practice, it turns out that hubbub is when dozens of individuals speak at once. They may try to shout down each other, as if at a party meeting, or break up into small interest groups, as happens in any school during recess. Someone perceives such a background calmly, others are forced to stop talking by any means in order to start classes or start work.
When used by contemporaries?
The word is not obsolete, but more often it pairs with the epithet "bird", making up a colorful artistic description of wildlife. Much more often they hear the verb “calm down”, which means any attempt to calm the crowd, to calm the overly cheerful or excited gentlemen. Adding it to the lexicon would be superfluous,After all, in the 21st century, you often have to perform in front of a large audience. And you can get attention only when the hubbub subsides!
