dyppan

Forms

dyppan (weak class 1; third-person singular present dypeþ, past singular dypede, past plural dypedon)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *duppjan, from Proto-Germanic *dupjaną.^[1][2] Holthausen compares Low German düppen, Norwegian Nynorsk dyppa and Old High German tupfen (“to dab, wet”), and relates it to dēop (“deep”) and doppa (“a diving bird”).^[3][4] Köbler, with a query, sets it beside *duppōn (“to dip”) and refers it to the root Proto-Indo-European *dʰewb- (“deep, hollow”),^[5] the root of *deupaz (“deep”) in Kroonen's account.^[6]

Wiktionary compares the causative *daupijaną (“to dip, immerse”), the source of dīepan and Gothic 𐌳𐌰𐌿𐍀𐌾𐌰𐌽 (daupjan, “to baptize”), which has a different vowel.^[1] Etymonline derives the verb from that causative directly.^[7] It is a weak verb of the first class.^[1][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first securely dated record is in Ælfric's first series of Catholic Homilies (Royal 7 C. xii, s. x ex., probably 990): a voice from the fire of hell begs Abraham to send Lazarus þæt he dyppe his finger on wætere. and gecele mine tungan “that he may dip his finger in water and cool my tongue”.^[9][10] The same verb is in the Old English Heptateuch, where the Israelites are told dyppað isopan sceaf on ðam blode “dip a bunch of hyssop in the blood”.^[8][10]

Semantic evolution

The verb means to dip something into a liquid: a hand in a dish, a finger in blood or water, hyssop in blood, and, in the medical texts, a linen cloth in the juice of a herb.^[8][11] In the Rushworth gloss of Matthew it renders Latin “baptizare”, beside dēpan.^[8][12] It renders Latin “intingere”, “tingere” and “immergere” in the biblical texts and psalter glosses.^[8]

Its continuation Middle English dippen meant to dip, moisten or immerse, also in baptism; it is now English dip.^[13][7]

Timeline

• s. x ex. – þæt he dyppe his finger on wætere in Ælfric's Catholic Homilies I (Royal 7 C. xii).^[9][10]
• s. x/xi – dyppan in the Old English Martyrology (Cotton Julius A. x).^[14][10]
• ?a1200 – Middle English dipe on wermun watere in a copy of the Herbarium (Harley 6258B).^[13]

Meanings

Verb

1. to dip, immerse.^[8][12][5]
2. (glosses) to baptize.^[8][12]

Descendants

• Middle English dippen (→ English dip)^[1]

Related words

• dīepan
• dēop

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
3. ^ Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 82
4. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. tupfen
5. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. dyppan
6. ^ Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 94
7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b c d e f g Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 221
9. ^ 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. 407
10. ^ 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
11. ^ Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 762
12. ^ a b c Clark Hall, J. R. (1960), A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 4th ed., with a supplement by H. D. Meritt, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 91
13. ^ 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)
14. ^ 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. 281