Etymology and origin of the Old English word tæppa
tæppa1 tap, spigot
- Confidence
- Established
- Formation
- Inherited
- Inherited from
- Proto-West Germanic *tappō
- Ultimate origin
- Proto-Germanic *tappô
Pronunciation
- /ˈtæp.pɑ/[1]
Forms
tæppa m (weak; genitive singular tæppan, nominative plural tæppan)[1]
Etymology
The word for the tap is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *tappō, from Proto-Germanic *tappô (“plug, tap”).[1][2] The noun has the cognates Old High German zapho (“plug, peg”), Old Norse tappi and Middle Low German tappe.[1][3][2] Köbler calls its origin unknown, and Wiktionary lists only uncertain comparisons outside Germanic.[2][1]
Before a double consonant followed by a back vowel early Old English normally retracted æ to a, so the ⟨æ⟩ of this word is unexpected;[1] Wiktionary leaves the reason open.[1]
Semantic evolution
Bosworth and Toller quote the word from a list of signs: to ask for wine, one moves two fingers as if pulling a tap out of a cask, swilce ðú tæppan of tunnan onteón wille.[4] From it comes the verb tæppian.[4][3] The word survived into Middle English, where Bosworth and Toller cite teppe in the Ayenbite and tappe in Chaucer.[4]
Meanings
Noun
Word family
- tæppian
Descendants
tæppa2 band, tape
- Confidence
- Uncertain
- First attested
- 1000–1050 Antwerp glossary
Pronunciation
- /ˈtæp.pɑ/[1]
Forms
tæppa m (weak; genitive singular tæppan, nominative plural tæppan)[1]
Etymology
The word for the band or tape has no certain etymology.[7][1] Holthausen suggests a connection with Old Frisian tapia and Middle Low German tapen, teppen (“to pluck, tear”), and the Middle English Dictionary makes the same comparison.[3][8] Hofmann and Popkema, however, gloss the Old Frisian verb as “to pour out, to tap”.[9] Etymonline reports Klein's view that it is a back-formation from Latin tapēte (“cloth, carpet”).[10] Wiktionary considers a link with Proto-Germanic *tappaz.[1]
Earliest recorded meaning
The word occurs only in the plural tæppan, glossing Latin “tenia” “ribbon”, in a glossary.[8][4] The DOE Corpus has it in the Antwerp glossary, whose glosses were added to the manuscript in s. xi in. and xi¹.[11][12]
Semantic evolution
The Middle English Dictionary counts it as late Old English.[8] Its descendant Middle English tape is a ribbon or band of a woman's headdress, as in Chaucer's Miller's Tale about 1390, and a fifteenth-century word list still glosses “tenea” with tappe.[8][4] It is now English tape.[8][10]
Timeline
- s. xi in. and xi¹ – tæppan for “tenia” in a glossary.[11][4][12]
- c. 1390 – Middle English tapes of a woman's headdress in Chaucer.[8]
Meanings
Noun
Descendants
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
- ^ a b c d e Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 341
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 970
- ^ Sweet, Henry (1896), The Student's Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 192
- ^ LangScape: The Language of Landscape: Reading the Anglo-Saxon Countryside, King's College London, langscape.org.uk
- ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. tæppa
- ^ a b c d e f 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)
- ^ Hofmann, Dietrich; Popkema, Anne Tjerk (2008), Altfriesisches Handwörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. s.v. tapia
- ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
- ^ 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. 579
- ^ a b Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
Related etymologies
Cite this entry
“Tæppa.” Etymologically, 16 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/ang/t%C3%A6ppa. Accessed 16 Nov. 2026.
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