Etymologically
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coup

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Pronunciation

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old French coup (“a blow”), earlier colp,[2][3] from Late Latin colpus,[2][3] from Latin colaphus, a blow with the fist, a box on the ear,[2][3][4] from Greek κόλαφος (kólaphos, “a blow, slap”), which Beekes calls a lowly word without clear etymology.[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A blow or stroke: about 1400, now obsolete in this sense.[3][5][2]

Semantic evolution

The modern word was taken from French again in the 18th century, as a clever, successful stroke or masterstroke.[6][4] The sense of a sudden overthrow of government is from 1852, a shortening of coup d'état.[2][3] Among some Native American peoples, counting coup was touching an enemy in battle as a feat of bravery.[7] Etymonline notes that in Modern French the word is a workhorse, used of everything from a pat on the back to thunder and chess moves.[3]

Timeline

  • c. 1400 – a blow.[3][5]
  • 18th century – a masterstroke.[6][4]
  • 1852 – a coup d'état.[2][3]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A brilliant and successful move; a masterstroke.
  2. Short for coup d'état, a sudden seizure of government.
  3. Among some Native American peoples, a feat of bravery such as touching an enemy in battle.

Word family

  • countercoup
  • postcoup
  • precoup
  • coup d'oeil
  • coup de foudre
  • coup de main
  • cope
  • coupe
  • coup d'état
  • coup de grâce

Usage notes

The Scots coup /kaʊp/, to upset or overturn, and coup, a rubbish tip, belong to a different word.[5][8]

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  5. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  8. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster