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elope

Etymology and origin of the English word elope

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Formation
Borrowing
Borrowed from
Anglo-Norman aloper

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ɪˈləʊ̯p/ (UK); /ɪˈloʊ̯p/ (US)[1]

Etymology

It is probably borrowed from Anglo-Norman aloper (“to run away from a husband with a lover”),[2][3][4][5] perhaps formed from a- “away” (Old French es-) and Middle Dutch lopen “to run”.[3][5] Etymonline and Barnhart prefer a direct borrowing or reborrowing of Middle Dutch ontlopen (“to run away”),[5][3] from ont- “away from” and lopen “to run”,[2][5] related to English leap.[5] Random House instead posits a Middle English *alopen “to run away”.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

In law, of a wife: to run away from her husband with a lover (Anglo-French aloper, 1338).[7][3] The general English sense, “to run away, escape”, dates from 1596.[7][3][5]

Semantic evolution

Barnhart notes that the gap of some 250 years between the Anglo-French and the English uses suggests a fresh borrowing from Dutch.[3] The sense most often used today, of lovers running away from home to marry secretly, usually without parental consent, is first recorded in the 19th century.[3][5][7] Merriam-Webster dates the verb to 1628.[4]

Timeline

  • 1338 – Anglo-French aloper, of a wife running off with a lover.[7][3]
  • 1596 – to run away, escape, abscond.[7][3]
  • 1598 – elopement.[3]
  • 19th century – to run away secretly to marry.[3][5]

Modern meaning

Verb

  1. To run away secretly with a lover, especially in order to marry without parental consent.
  2. To run away from one's spouse with a lover.
  3. To run away; to escape or abscond.

Word family

  • elopement
  • eloper
  • lope
  • leap

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
  4. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
  7. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Elope.” Etymologically, 15 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/elope. Accessed 15 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·