The という in things like 〜ということ・〜というの・〜という感じ・〜というわけ etc


I have been trying for ages to understand the reason という is used so
frequently. In other words, what does it add to the sentence and what
connotations does it have in Japanese? I understand the meaning of each word
individually in many of the set phrases it belongs to, but if you were forced
to name who it is doing the いう'ing, would it be the speaker, Japanese society
or just some abstract entity?

All I've found are silly and questionable English translations like:

> 今日のテーマは愛 **という** 事だ  
>  "Today's lesson is the thing they call love"

The problem for me arises when I see just how often stuff like ということ appears
in conversation, even twice in a sentence, like:

> 彼が金を貸してくれた **ということ** は私は彼に信用されている **ということ** だ。

Why isn't it just

> 彼がお金を貸してくれた **こと** は

I was hoping someone could give me a (hopefully in-depth) understanding based
more in how it is understood in Japanese. Even a link to a good Japanese
explanation or a summary would do.




Japanese-Japanese dictionaries give [almost complehensive
lists.](https://kotobank.jp/word/%E8%A8%80%E3%81%86%E3%83%BB%E4%BA%91%E3%81%86%E3%83%BB%E8%AC%82%E3%81%86-201316#E5.A4.A7.E8.BE.9E.E6.9E.97.20.E7.AC.AC.E4.B8.89.E7.89.88)

“Aという” originally meant “someone says A”, but its original meaning has been
lost in many cases, and it is used like a 助詞.

“Aということだ。” means “I heard that A.” In this sentence meaning of “say” is
remaining.

In other cases “Aということ” is used as a noun clause. A shorter form “Aこと” is also
used, but “Aということ” makes it more obvious that it is a noun clause. “Aこと” may
be confused with a normal combination of 連体形 + 名詞.

> 彼が言ったということ  
>  The fact that he said something  
>  (less common) What I hear he said
>
> 彼が言ったこと  
>  What he said  
>  (less common) The fact that he said something

When used in the form of “Aということは、B(ということ)だ。”, it means “Judging from A, B.”

“なんということもない” means literally “about which I have nothing to say” implying “not
special”.

