gossip (n.)
A gossip was once someone connected to a family through baptism. The Old English word godsibb joined God with kinship and referred to a godparent. Its meaning widened to include a close friend or companion.12
Several meanings were still in use in Shakespeare’s time. In Henry VIII, the king addresses his daughter’s godparents as “My noble gossips.” In Titus Andronicus, Aaron calls the nurse “a long-tongued, babbling gossip.” One use belongs to a christening ceremony. The other expresses distrust of someone who might reveal a secret.34
The word also became associated with women attending a birth and with the conversation at those gatherings. Its familiar sense developed alongside older meanings that remained available to speakers and writers.2
He was a terrible gossip, though everyone told him things.