Verbigeration

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. the compulsive repetition of words or phrases without meaningful communication or conscious intent
2. persistent mechanical repetition of the same words or expressions as a symptom of mental disorder or neurological condition
3. stereotyped recitation of identical words or utterances performed involuntarily and without communicative purpose

Etymology: Karl Kahlbaum, a German psychiatrist, needed a name for a striking symptom in patients with catatonia: they would repeat the same words or phrases over and over, apparently without purpose. He reached for Latin, combining "verbum," meaning "word," with "gerere," meaning "to carry on" or "to perform." The result describes the behaviour literally: carrying on with words. The ending "-ation" is the common Latin suffix that forms nouns of action, as in "creation" and "examination." The term is a deliberate scientific coinage rather than a word that passed through everyday speech, and it belongs mainly to psychiatric writing.