ceapian

Forms

ċēapian (weak class 2; third-person singular present ċēapaþ, past singular ċēapode, past plural ċēapodon)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *kaupōn (“to buy”), from Proto-Germanic *kaupōną (“to buy, trade”).^[1] The Proto-Germanic verb is made on *kaupô (“merchant”).^[1] Its cognates are Gothic 𐌺𐌰𐌿𐍀𐍉𐌽 (kaupōn, “to trade”), Old Frisian kāpia, Old Saxon kōpon and Old High German koufōn.^[2][3][4] The EWA takes the Old High German verb for a derivative of koufo (“merchant”) and rejects a direct loan of Latin caupōnor (“to traffic”), a rare word.^[4]

Durkin counts the whole word group among the earliest Latin loans in Germanic: it goes back to Latin caupō (“petty trader”) or to the verb derived from it, and the Gothic verb has been taken to show that the loan was made before Gothic split off.^[5][6] He lists the verb among the Old English verbs formed on a Latin loan, here ċēap “purchase”.^[7][8] Holthausen and Köbler also derive the group from the Latin noun.^[9][10]

It is a weak verb of the second class.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Old English Orosius in the Tollemache manuscript (s. x¹ or x²/⁴) has Jugurtha's mockery of Rome, þæt mon nane burg ne mehte ieð mid feo geceapian, gif hiere ænig mon ceapode “that one might easily buy any city with money, if any man bargained for it”.^[12][13] The Old English Bede in Tanner 10 (s. x in. or xi¹) has nuns who utwæpnedmonna friondscipes him ceapiað “buy themselves the friendship of men from outside”.^[14][13]

Semantic evolution

Bosworth and Toller give the senses to bargain and trade, to buy, and to bribe;^[15][16] Toller's Supplement sorts them into trading and buying, the thing bought in the genitive.^[15][16] In the Gospels it renders Latin “negotiari” and “emere”.^[15][2] In the laws it is the word for trading among the people, and it stood for the Latin “barganiare” of the Latin versions.^[17] In Christ and in other texts one buys the eternal kingdom with alms.^[16] Beowulf has the participle ġeċēapod “purchased”.^[18]

Timeline

• s. x¹ or x²/⁴ – gif hiere ænig mon ceapode in the Old English Orosius.^[12][13]
• s. x in. or xi¹ – friondscipes him ceapiað in the Old English Bede (Tanner 10).^[14][13]
• s. x² – gyfum ceápian “to bribe with gifts” in Daniel in the Junius manuscript.^[19][15]
• s. x/xi – ġeċēapod in the Beowulf manuscript.^[20][18]

Meanings

Verb

1. to bargain, trade, traffic.^[15][16][17]
2. to buy, purchase (with the genitive).^[16][21]
3. to bribe.^[15]

Word family

• ġeċēapian
• āċēapian
• ofaċēapian
• unċēapod

Related words

• ċēap
• ċīepan
• ċēapman

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. cíepan
3. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
4. ^ a b Lloyd, Albert L.; Springer, Otto; Lühr, Rosemarie, et al. (1988–), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; online ewa.saw-leipzig.de
5. ^ 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. 73
7. ^ Durkin, Philip (2014), Borrowed Words: A History of Loanwords in English, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 121
8. ^ Durkin, Philip (2014), Borrowed Words: A History of Loanwords in English, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 141
9. ^ Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 45
10. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. céap
11. ^ Hogg, Richard M.; Fulk, R. D. (2011), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 2: Morphology, Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, p. § 6.120
12. ^ 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. 249
13. ^ 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
14. ^ 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. 531
15. ^ a b c d e f Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 148
16. ^ a b c d e Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 119
17. ^ a b Liebermann, F. (1906), Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, vol. II.1: Wörterbuch, Halle: Niemeyer, p. 32
18. ^ a b 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. ċēapian
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. 513
20. ^ 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
21. ^ Rauer, Christine, ed. (2013), The Old English Martyrology: Edition, Translation and Commentary, Cambridge: D. S. Brewer (glossary), p. s.v. ceapian