Etymologically
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harp

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Pronunciation

  • UK: /hɑːp/[1]
  • US: /hɑɹp/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English harpe,[2][3] inherited from Old English hearpe,[4][5][6][7] from Proto-Germanic *harpǭ,[8][4][5][2] also the source of Old Saxon harpa, used of an instrument of torture,[4][2] Middle Dutch harpe, Old High German harpha (modern German Harfe), Dutch harp and Old Norse harpa, which also meant a large sieve for corn.[2][4][6][8] The origin of the Germanic word is uncertain.[4] Barnhart traces it to Proto-Indo-European *kerb- (Pokorny 948),[2] a root that Köbler glosses "to turn, bend, shrink",[8] and Merriam-Webster compares Latin curvus (“curved”).[9] From Germanic came Late Latin harpa, recorded in the 6th century,[10][5] the source of Italian arpa, Spanish arpa and French harpe.[4][2][10] The American Heritage Dictionary takes the Middle English noun as partly from Old French harpe as well.[11] The verb is inherited from Old English hearpian (“to play the harp”), from the noun,[4][5][9][6] cognate with harpen and harfen;[4][5] Barnhart thinks it possibly influenced in part by harper.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A stringed instrument played with the fingers: in Old English, about 725 in Barnhart,[2] and first in the Vespasian Psalter in the OED.[5] Beowulf has hearpan sweg, the sound of the harp.[7] The Middle English form is first recorded probably before 1200, in Layamon's Brut.[2]

Semantic evolution

The harp was the instrument of the Germanic peoples: Johnson quoted a 6th-century line of Venantius Fortunatus that sets the Roman lyre against the barbarian harpa.[12] The verb, to play the harp, is also Old English;[5][9] its figurative use, to dwell tediously on one subject, began in the phrase to harp upon one string (about 1531),[5] which Weekley finds in Sir Thomas More,[10] and to harp on a subject is recorded from 1562.[5][2] Etymonline dates the figurative sense to the mid-15th century.[4] Shakespeare used the verb in Macbeth for putting a thing into words, guessing it.[5] In the 16th century harp also named the constellation Lyra (1556) and Irish coins stamped with a harp (1543),[5] and the EDD records an Irish shilling called a harp.[13] In Scotland the word was used from 1768 for a wire screen for sifting grain, sand or coal,[5] a use that recalls the Norse sense of a corn sieve.[2] The harp seal (1784) is named for the harp-shaped markings on its back.[4] In 1887 American English shortened mouth-harp to harp, a harmonica.[4][5][14] From 1904 harp was American slang for an Irishman.[5][14] In Worcestershire dialect a verb harp meant to listen or pay attention.[13]

Timeline

  • c. 725 – Old English hearpe, the instrument.[2]
  • c. 1330 – verb, to play notes on a harp (obsolete by 1777).[5]
  • c. 1531 – figurative, to harp upon one string.[5]
  • 1543 – an Irish coin bearing a harp.[5]
  • 1556 – the constellation Lyra.[5]
  • 1562 – harp on, to dwell tediously on a subject.[5][2]
  • before 1616 – to give voice to, to guess, in Shakespeare.[5]
  • 1768 – Scottish, a wire screen for sifting.[5]
  • 1784 – the harp seal.[4]
  • 1887 – a harmonica.[5][4]
  • 1904 – US slang, an Irishman.[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A large musical instrument with strings of graded lengths stretched across a roughly triangular frame and plucked with the fingers; the orchestral harp has pedals for changing the pitch of the strings.[15][16][9][5]
  2. (informal) A harmonica.[5][14]
  3. Something shaped like a harp, such as the metal frame that supports a lampshade.[15]
  4. (US slang) An Irish person.[5][14]
  5. (Scottish) A wire screen for sifting grain, sand or coal.[5]

Verb

  1. To play the harp.[15][9][5]
  2. harp on (or harp on about): to talk about something again and again, tediously: He keeps harping on about his old school.[9][5][16]

Word family

  • harper
  • harpist
  • harplike
  • Jew's-harp
  • Aeolian harp
  • harp seal
  • harpsichord

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
  8. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  9. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  10. ^ a b c Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  11. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  12. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  13. ^ a b Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
  14. ^ a b c d Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  15. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  16. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins