Etymologically
Log in

sup

History Permalink

Etymology and origin of the English word sup

Pronunciation

  • /sʌp/, /sup/[1]

sup1 to sip

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
899 before 899, King Alfred's translation of Gregory's Pastoral Care
Inherited from
Old English supan via Middle English
Ultimate origin
Proto-Germanic *sūpaną

Etymology

To sip is inherited from Middle English soupen, later suppen,[2][3][4] inherited from Old English sūpan (“to sip, swallow”), also Northumbrian suppan and sūpian,[2][4][3] from Proto-Germanic *sūpaną.[4][5][6] It is related to Middle Low German sūpen (“to sup”), Middle Dutch sūpen (“to drink”), Dutch zuipen (“to drink to excess”), Old High German sūfan (“to drink, sip”), German saufen (“to drink, booze”) and Old Norse súpa (“to sip, drink”).[2][7][8][9][5] Kroonen analyses the strong verb as a back-formation to an iterative verb meaning to soak,[5] and the OED traces it, with a different root-extension, to the same Indo-European base as suck.[7][3] Etymonline, following Watkins, derives it from Proto-Indo-European *sub-, possibly an extended form of Proto-Indo-European *seuə- (“to take liquid”).[4][10] The noun, a mouthful, is partly an Old English noun of the same base and partly a use of the verb.[7][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

To sip, swallow: before 899, in King Alfred's translation of Gregory's Pastoral Care, according to Barnhart.[2] The OED's first records of taking liquid into the mouth in small amounts are from the early Old English Leechbook.[7]

Semantic evolution

In Old English the verb could also mean to swallow up or consume, and figuratively to taste or experience something, as death or sorrow.[7] The noun, a small amount of liquid taken at one time, appears in the Leechbook too,[7] though Merriam-Webster dates it from 1551 and Etymonline from the 1560s.[3][4] Phrases followed: bite and sup (originally bit and sup), a little food and drink, from 1546, and a good sup, a fair amount of liquid, from 1601, now chiefly Irish.[7][11] Johnson (1755) defined the noun as a small draught or mouthful of liquor.[12] The verb is now chiefly Scottish and northern English,[7][11][13] where it also means simply to drink;[13][14] in many dialects it was pronounced soop or zup.[14]

Timeline

  • before 899 – to sip, swallow (King Alfred).[2]
  • Old English – noun, a mouthful, a sip.[7]
  • c. 1400 – to drink up, to swallow.[7]
  • 1546 – bit and sup, a little food and drink.[7]
  • 1601 – a good sup, a fair amount.[7]
  • 1782 – drink, especially alcoholic drink.[7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To take liquid into the mouth a little at a time, or to eat liquid food with a spoon; to sip.[13][3][7]
  2. (Scotland and northern England) To drink: He sat supping his ale by the fire.[13][7]

Noun

  1. A small amount of liquid taken at one time; a sip or mouthful: a sup of broth.[13][3][7]
  2. (chiefly Irish) a good sup: a fair amount of something to drink.[7][11]
  3. bite and sup: a little food and drink.[7][11]

sup2 to eat supper

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
c. 1300 St. Thomas Becket, South English Legendary
Borrowed from
Anglo-Norman super via Middle English
Ultimate origin
Old French soupe

Etymology

To eat supper is inherited from Middle English supen, also soupen,[2][3] borrowed from Anglo-Norman super and Old French soper, also souper (modern souper),[7][2][4][15] probably from soupe (“broth, a piece of bread soaked in broth”), the source of soup.[4][3][2] The OED takes the French verb as ultimately from the Germanic base of sop and sup1, and compares Late Latin suppa (“sop, bread soaked in liquid”), recorded from the 6th century.[7][9][11] Klein and Partridge see in the English verb a blending of the French verb with Middle English soupen, to drink.[8][16] The Anglo-Norman verb is recorded from about 1121–25.[15]

Earliest recorded meaning

To eat one's supper: about 1300, in the life of St Thomas Becket in the South English Legendary;[7] Barnhart cites Havelok the Dane of the same date.[2]

Semantic evolution

From about 1440 the verb was used with on, upon or off for the food eaten.[7] In Middle English it was often figurative of spiritual communion or the life after death, influenced by the Last Supper,[4] especially in to sup with our Lord, after Revelation 3:20.[7] In the Bible it means to take the principal meal of the day, a late dinner.[4] The proverb about supping with the devil, to have dealings with wicked people, is recorded from before 1567.[7][11] In hunting and falconry, to sup a hawk, horse or hound was to give it the last feed of the day (1575–1836).[7][3] Collins labels the verb archaic.[13]

Timeline

  • c. 1300 – to eat supper.[7][2][4]
  • before 1400 – to sup with our Lord, in religious use.[7]
  • c. 1440 – to dine on a particular food.[7]
  • before 1567 – supping with the devil.[7]
  • 1575 – to give an animal its evening feed (obsolete by 1836).[7]
  • 1609 – to give a supper to someone.[7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. (archaic) To eat the evening meal; to have supper.[13][3][7]
  2. To make one's supper of something, with on or off: We supped on bread and cheese.[3][7]
  3. (now rare) To give a supper to someone; to entertain at supper.[7]
  4. he who sups with the devil should have a long spoon: dealings with wicked people call for great caution.[7][11]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
  6. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
  7. ^ 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 30 31 32 33 34 35 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  9. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  10. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  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 c d e f g Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  14. ^ 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)
  15. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  16. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul

Related etymologies

  • tuck · also from Old English
  • mash · also from Old English
  • uneven · also from Old English
  • lore · also from Old English
  • puff · also from Old English
  • kite · also from Old English
  • onboard · also from Old English
  • lest · also from Old English
Cite this entry

“Sup.” Etymologically, 31 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/sup. Accessed 31 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·