Etymologically
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leap

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /liːp/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English lepen, inherited from Old English hlēapan (“to jump, run, leap”),[2][3][4][5] from Proto-Germanic *hlaupanan,[3][2] cognate with Old Frisian hlāpa (“to run”), Old Saxon hlōpan, Dutch lopen, Old High German hlouffan (modern German laufen (“to run”)) and Old Norse hlaupa (“to run, leap”).[2][3][4][5] It has no known cognates outside Germanic,[2][3][4] and Etymonline suggests a substrate word.[3] The noun is from hlȳp (“a leap, bound”).[3][5][6] Lope is related.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb: about 725, in Beowulf;[2] the Old English verb also meant to run, go or dance.[3] The noun, an act of leaping: before 900.[7]

Semantic evolution

Middle English lepen is probably from before 1200, in Layamon.[2] An abrupt change or sudden transition is a leap from about 1000,[7] and a leaping-place from about 1205;[7] a salmon leap is from 1387.[7] The transitive sense, to pass over by leaping, is from the early 15th century,[3] and the proverb “first look and afterward leap” from the mid-15th.[3] A leap in the dark is from 1698,[7] and leaps and bounds have been paired since 1720.[3] Leapfrog is from the 1590s, in Shakespeare's Henry V.[3] Leap year is recorded from the 14th century but is probably much older; it probably refers to fixed festivals falling two weekdays later than in the year before.[4]

Timeline

  • c. 725 – to leap (verb).[2]
  • before 900 – a leap (noun).[7]
  • 14th century – leap year.[4]
  • 1387 – salmon leap.[7]
  • 1590s – leapfrog.[3]
  • 1698 – a leap in the dark.[7]

Modern meaning

Verb

  1. To jump or spring suddenly from one place to another.
  2. To move or react quickly, often with at.
  3. To jump over something.
  4. To make a horse jump a barrier.
  5. To come suddenly to mind: the thought leapt into his mind.

Noun

  1. An act of jumping.
  2. A place jumped from or over, or the distance covered by a jump.
  3. An abrupt change or transition.

Word family

  • leaper
  • outleap
  • overleap
  • leapfrog
  • leap day
  • leap second
  • leap year
  • quantum leap

Usage notes

The past tense is leapt or leaped.[8][1] An obsolete leap, a basket, is a separate word, from Old English lēap.[5]

References

  1. ^ a b 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 j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins