hopian

Forms

hopian (weak class 2; third-person singular present hopaþ, past singular hopode, past plural hopodon)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *hopōn, a word of uncertain origin.^[1][2] It is shared with Old Frisian hopia, Old Saxon hopōn and Middle Low German hopen; Middle High German hoffen is the same word.^[2][3] Etymonline counts it a North Sea Germanic word, not the usual Germanic term for hoping, and takes the Middle High German verb as a loan from Low German.^[4]

Holthausen calls the origin unknown.^[2] Köbler tentatively sets up Proto-Germanic *hupōn and a root Proto-Indo-European *kewh₂p- (“to smoke, boil”).^[3] Wiktionary reports a comparison with Ancient Greek κύπτω (kúptō, “to bend forward, stoop”), which Kluge supported with a sense “to fear” in Old Saxon and German dialects.^[1] Nerthus treats the verb as made from the noun hopa (“hope”) without a suffix.^[5]

It is a weak verb of the second class.^[6] Its single ⟨p⟩ sets it apart from hoppian (“to hop”) with ⟨pp⟩.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb is first recorded in the Pastoral Care in Hatton 20, written 890×897: the humble are to be told hu soðlic ðe hie to hopiað, “how real is that which they hope for”.^[8][9] The construction with tō is the usual one there;^[10][11] Bosworth and Toller also give it with the genitive.^[10][11]

Semantic evolution

Bosworth and Toller give “to hope, have hope or confidence in a person, expect, watch for”; a charter has ic hopige tō him, “I trust in him”.^[10] The Boethius has the man who despises earthly goods and hopað to þam toweardan, “hopes for the things to come”.^[12][9] Clark Hall adds “to put trust in”.^[13]

It kept both senses, “to hope” and “to trust”, in Middle English hopen, and it is now English hope.^[14][4]

Timeline

• 890×897 – hu soðlic ðe hie to hopiað in the Pastoral Care.^[8][9]
• s. x med. – hopað to þam toweardan in the Old English Boethius.^[12][9]
• s. x ex. – Ælfric's Catholic Homilies I.^[15][9]
• s. x/xi – in Judith in the Beowulf manuscript.^[16][9]

Meanings

Verb

1. to hope, hope for (with tō or the genitive); to expect, look for.^[10][11][3]
2. to trust, put trust in, have confidence.^[10][13]

Word family

• āhopian

Descendants

• Middle English hopen (→ English hope; Scots hope; Scots hoip)^[1]

Related words

• hopa
• tōhopa

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 169
3. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. hopian
4. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ Nerthus: An Online Lexical Database of Old English, Universidad de La Rioja, nerthusproject.com (derivational paradigms, via the Nerthus Project's open data), p. s.v. hopian
6. ^ Hogg, Richard M.; Fulk, R. D. (2011), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 2: Morphology, Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, p. § 6.120
7. ^ Hogg, Richard M. (1992), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 1: Phonology, Oxford: Blackwell, p. § 2.48
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 e f 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 c d e Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 551
11. ^ a b c Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 558
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. 296
13. ^ a b Clark Hall, J. R. (1960), A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 4th ed., with a supplement by H. D. Meritt, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 189
14. ^ 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)
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. 407
16. ^ 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