ceap

Forms

ċēap m (strong a-stem; genitive singular cēapes, nominative plural cēapas)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *kaup (“trade, purchase”),^[1][2] a noun made from the verb *kaupōn (“to buy, trade”).^[1] Its cognates are Old Frisian kāp, Old Saxon kōp and Old High German kouf,^[3][2][4] and Ringe and Taylor hold Old Norse kaup, a neuter, to be an independent formation.^[2]

The word group ultimately comes from Latin, from Latin caupō (“petty trader, innkeeper”) or the verb made from it, caupōnor (“to trade”).^[5][6][4][7] Durkin calls it a less secure case of borrowing at the common Germanic stage: the verb Gothic 𐌺𐌰𐌿𐍀𐍉𐌽 (kaupōn) is often taken to show a loan before Gothic split off, but the borrowing may instead have been made into West Germanic in the Rhineland and have spread from there to the north and east.^[3][5] In Old English the diphthong /au/ became ⟨ēa⟩ and the /k/ before it was palatalised to ⟨ċ⟩.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is first recorded in the Pastoral Care (890×897): ure ealdan fæderas wæron ceapes hierdas, “our forefathers were herdsmen of cattle”.^[8][9] In the Parker Chronicle, for 894, the besiegers genamon ceapes eall þæt þær buton wæs, “took all the cattle that was outside”.^[10][9]

Semantic evolution

Bosworth and Toller put the sense "cattle" first and derive the commercial senses from it, cattle being the chief goods for sale; the word then covers goods, bargain, sale and purchase, the market and the price paid.^[11] In the laws it is a transaction, a thing bought and the price, including the bride-price.^[12] Tō ċēape means "for sale", and būtan ċēape "without payment".^[13] In Beowulf heardan ċēape is "at a hard price", and Mackie read the word in line 2415 as "goods", that is treasure.^[7] It formed more than ten compounds and derivatives in Old English, among them ċēapian and ċēapmann.^[14][15]

It lived on as Middle English chep “bargain, price”;^[16] the English adjective cheap came from the phrase good cheap “a good bargain”.^[3][17]

Timeline

• 890×897 – ceapes hierdas “herdsmen of cattle” in the Pastoral Care.^[8][9]
• s. ix/x – cattle taken by the Danes in annal 894 of the Parker Chronicle.^[10][9]
• s. x ex. – the temple not raised tō nānum ċēape “for any trade” in Ælfric's Catholic Homilies I.^[18][13]
• s. x/xi – heardan ċēape “at a hard price” in the Beowulf manuscript.^[19][7]
• a1225 – Middle English chep “bargain” in the Poema Morale.^[16]

Meanings

Noun

1. cattle, livestock.^[11][20]
2. goods, property, possessions.^[11][21]
3. trade, a bargain, sale or purchase.^[13][20]
4. a market.^[11][20]
5. the price paid for something.^[13][12]

Word family

• ċēapian
• ċēapmann
• ċēapung
• ċīepe
• landċēap

Descendants

• Middle English chep (→ English cheap)^[1]

Related words

• ċīepan

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 206
3. ^ a b c Durkin, Philip (2014), Borrowed Words: A History of Loanwords in English, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 74
4. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 211
5. ^ a b Durkin, Philip (2014), Borrowed Words: A History of Loanwords in English, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 75
6. ^ Durkin, Philip (2014), Borrowed Words: A History of Loanwords in English, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 112
7. ^ a b c Fulk, R. D.; Bjork, Robert E.; Niles, John D., eds. (2008), Klaeber's Beowulf and The Fight at Finnsburg, 4th ed., Toronto: University of Toronto Press (glossary), p. s.v. ċēap
8. ^ a b Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 499
9. ^ a b c d Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
10. ^ a b Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 83
11. ^ a b c d Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 148
12. ^ a b Liebermann, F. (1906), Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, vol. II.1: Wörterbuch, Halle: Niemeyer, p. 31
13. ^ a b c d Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 119
14. ^ Durkin, Philip (2014), Borrowed Words: A History of Loanwords in English, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 122
15. ^ Durkin, Philip (2014), Borrowed Words: A History of Loanwords in English, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 121
16. ^ a b Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
17. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
18. ^ Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 407
19. ^ Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 344
20. ^ a b c Sweet, Henry (1896), The Student's Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 54
21. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. céap