hop

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /hɒp/, US /hɑːp/^[1]

hop¹ leap

Etymology

The verb is inherited from Middle English hoppen, inherited from Old English hoppian (“to spring, leap, dance”),^[2][3][4] from Proto-Germanic *hupnōną.^[2] It is related to Old Norse hoppa, Dutch huppen and German hüpfen “to hop”.^[2][3] The noun is from the verb, first recorded in 1508 in Dunbar.^[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

To spring a short way with a bouncing movement: about 1000.^[5][3]

Semantic evolution

Old English hoppian could also mean to dance or to limp.^[2] The dancing sense is recorded from about 1386 and is now only playful,^[5] and the noun “an informal dance” is from 1731,^[2][5] and Johnson defined a hop as “a place where meaner people dance”.^[2][5] Hopping on one foot is recorded from 1700, and the transitive sense, to jump over, from 1791.^[5] A stage of a journey by aircraft is from 1909, the same year as hopping onto a moving vehicle.^[5] Hopping mad is from the 1670s.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1000 – to leap, spring.^[5]
• c. 1386 – to dance.^[5]
• 1508 – the noun, a leap.^[3]
• 1731 – a dance party.^[5]
• 1909 – a short flight; to jump onto a vehicle.^[5]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To jump on one foot, or (of an animal) with all feet together.
2. (informal) To move or go quickly, or to get on or off a vehicle: hop on a bus.
3. To jump over something.

Noun

1. A short jump, especially on one foot.
2. (informal) A short journey, especially by air.
3. (informal, dated) An informal dance.

hop² plant

Etymology

The plant is borrowed from Middle Dutch hoppe,^[2][3][6] from Proto-Germanic *hupnan-,^[2] also the source of Old Saxon -hoppo (in feldhoppo) and German Hopfen.^[2][3] Its further origin is uncertain: Etymonline suggests the root *(s)keup- “cluster, tuft” for the tufted flowers.^[2] Medieval Latin hupa, Old French hoppe and French houblon come from Dutch.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The ripened cones of the hop plant, used to flavour malt liquor: about 1440, in the Promptorium Parvulorum.^[5][3]

Semantic evolution

The climbing plant itself is recorded from 1538.^[5] The verb, to flavour with hops, is from 1572.^[5][4] In Australian and New Zealand slang hops means beer, from 1929.^[5][7] Hop as a slang name for opium, from 1887, may come from Cantonese and was reinterpreted as this word.^[2][5]

Timeline

• c. 1440 – hop cones.^[5]
• 1538 – the hop plant.^[5]
• 1572 – to flavour with hops.^[5]
• 1887 – opium (slang).^[2]
• 1929 – beer (Australia, New Zealand).^[5]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A climbing plant, Humulus lupulus, of the hemp family.
2. (usually hops) Its dried cone-shaped flowers, used to give beer a bitter taste.

Verb

1. To flavour with hops.

Related words

• hopper
• hip-hop

Usage notes

Australian slang Hop or John Hop, a police officer (early 20th century), is rhyming slang for cop.^[7][5]

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