cope

Cope, to deal with, is from Old French couper, to strike; cope, a cloak or vestment, is from Medieval Latin capa.^[1][2][3]

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈkəʊp/ (UK); /ˈkoʊp/ (US)^[4]

cope¹ deal with

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English coupen, copen, borrowed from Old French couper (“to strike, cut”), earlier colper, to hit, punch,^[1][2][3] from colp, coup, a blow (see coup),^[1][2] from Late Latin colpus, from Latin colaphus, a blow with the fist, from Greek.^[5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

To quarrel, the late 14th century; to come to blows, engage in combat, about 1400, before 1400 in Barnhart.^[2][1] The verbal noun coupyng is from before 1375.^[1]

Semantic evolution

The word once meant to meet in battle or come to blows.^[6] In Shakespeare it is used in the now obsolete sense to come into contact, meet, match.^[1] The modern figurative sense, to contend with or deal with successfully, is first recorded in 1641, in Milton,^[1] and by the 18th century had become the main sense, handling something successfully,^[2] perhaps influenced by the obsolete cope, to traffic, bargain, buy (15th–17th centuries), from Middle Dutch kopen (compare cheap).^[2][7] Coppice and copse are from the same Old French source.^[6]

Timeline

• before 1375 – coupyng.^[1]
• late 14th century – to quarrel.^[2]
• c. 1400 – to come to blows.^[2]
• 1641 – to deal with.^[1]
• 18th century – to manage successfully.^[2]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To deal successfully with a difficult situation; to manage.
2. To contend or strive, especially on even terms.
3. (archaic) To meet in battle.

Word family

• coping

cope² cloak

Etymology

It is Middle English cope, from earlier cāpe, as in Old English cantelcāpe (before 1121),^[1][3] from Medieval Latin capa, a cloak, a variant of Late Latin cappa, a hood, mantle (see cap).^[1][2][5] Old Norse kápa and French chape are from the same source.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A long cloak or cape worn outdoors: about 1200, probably before 1200 in the Ancrene Riwle.^[2][1][8]

Semantic evolution

The special dress of a monk or friar is from before 1225,^[8] and a large mantle worn by priests or bishops over the alb from the late 13th century.^[2] It was used figuratively for the cloak of night's darkness, extended to the vault of the sky in the once-common poetic phrase cope of heaven (late 14th century).^[2][8] The verb, to cover with a cope, is from before 1376.^[1] From the noun came the cope-stone at the top of a wall (16th century) and coping (17th century).^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1200 – a cloak.^[2]
• late 13th century – a priest's vestment.^[2]
• before 1376 – to cover with a cope (verb).^[1]
• 1393 – the cope of night.^[8]
• 16th century – cope-stone.^[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A long semicircular cloak worn by a priest or bishop on ceremonial occasions.
2. A covering like a cloak or canopy.
3. A coping on a wall.

Verb

1. To dress in a cope.
2. To provide a wall with coping.

Word family

• copestone

Related words

• coup
• cap
• cape
• chapel
• coppice
• copse

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
5. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press