hearpe

Forms

hearpe f (weak n-stem; genitive singular hearpan, nominative plural hearpan)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *harpā, from Proto-Germanic *harpǭ (“harp”).^[1][2] The word is shared by Old Norse harpa, Old Saxon harpa and Old High German harpfa.^[3][4][5] The Romance words for the harp, such as French harpe and Italian arpa, come from Germanic.^[5][6]

Its further origin is disputed.^[5] Holthausen and Orel connect it with Latin corbis (“basket”) and Lithuanian karbas (“basket”).^[4][3] De Vries sets out this view beside Sperber's derivation from a word for a harrow and a link with Latin crepō (“to rattle”), which he thinks unlikely.^[5] Etymonline calls the origin uncertain.^[6]

In Old English Proto-West Germanic /a/ became /æ/ and was broken to ⟨ea⟩ before /r/ + consonant: *harpā > *hærpǣ > hearpe.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is first recorded in the Vespasian Psalter gloss of the mid-ninth century: in hearpan ten strenga singað him “sing to him on the harp of ten strings” renders “in psalterio decem chordarum psallite ei” (Psalm 32).^[7][8]

Semantic evolution

In the glosses hearpe renders both Latin “cithara” and “psalterium”.^[9][10] In the poetry the harp belongs to the hall and its joy: Beowulf has hearpan swēġ “the sound of the harp” and hearpan wyn “the joy of the harp”.^[11] The Pastoral Care likens men's thoughts to the strings of a harp, which the harper touches in different ways.^[10]

The word lived on as Middle English harpe, now English harp.^[12][6]

Timeline

• s. ix med. – in hearpan ten strenga for Latin “in psalterio decem chordarum” in the Vespasian Psalter gloss.^[7][8]
• 890×897 – sumere hearpan strengas “the strings of a harp” in the Pastoral Care.^[13][8]
• s. x med. – Orpheus wins over the gods of hell mid his hearpan in the Old English Boethius.^[14][8]
• s. x/xi – þær wæs hearpan sweg “there was the sound of the harp” in the Beowulf manuscript.^[15][8]

Meanings

Noun

1. a harp, a lyre.^[16][11]

Word family

• hearpere
• hearpian
• hearpestrenġ
• hearpsweġ
• hearpslege

Descendants

• Middle English harpe (→ English harp; Scots harpe; Scots herp)^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 180
3. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 163
4. ^ a b Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 152
5. ^ a b c d de Vries, Jan (1977), Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 2nd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. 212
6. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ 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. 329
8. ^ a b c d e Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
9. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. hearpe
10. ^ a b Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 526
11. ^ 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. hearpe
12. ^ 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)
13. ^ 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
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. 296
15. ^ 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
16. ^ Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 523