Dictionary of Phrase and Fable—G

Gossip

A tattler; a sponsor at baptism, a corruption of gossib, which is Godsib, a kinsman in the Lord. (Sib, gesib, Anglo-Saxon, kinsman, whence Sibman, he is our sib, still used.)

“Tis not a maid, for she hath had gossips [sponsors for her child]: yet `tis a maid, for she is her master's servant, and serves for wages.” —Shakespeare: Two Gentlemen of Verona, iii.1.

Gossip.
A father confessor, of a good, easy, jovial frame.

“Here, andrew, carry this to my gossip, jolly father Boniface, the monk of St. Martin's” —Sir Walter Scott: Quentin Durward.

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
Gossypia
Gossamer
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