1
Stage 1 of 3
gharbala
Arabic · medieval
"to sift or sort"
to sift or sort spices, separating the good from impurities
2
Stage 2 of 3
garbellare
Medieval Latin/Italian · medieval
"to sift goods for quality"
carried into European trade vocabulary for sorting goods
3
Stage 3 of 3
garble
English · 1400s
"to jumble or distort a message"
shifted from careful sorting to mean confused, jumbled mixing
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