Etymologically
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viper

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Pronunciation

  • US: /ˈvaɪpɚ/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English vipere,[2][3] borrowed from Middle French vipere,[2][4][5] and directly borrowed from Latin vīpera (“viper, snake, serpent”);[6][7][8] the Latin form was used in Middle English first, as vipera.[3][7] The Latin word is usually explained as a contraction of *vīvipera, from vīvus (“alive”) and pariō (“to bring forth”),[6][7][8][2][9] because the viper was thought to bear live young rather than lay eggs,[2][4][10] and Barnhart says it was remade as Late Latin vīviparus (“bringing forth alive”).[2] Merriam-Webster gives this derivation only as a possibility, and Skeat, after Walde, doubted it.[4][11] Etymonline traces the parts to Proto-Indo-European *gwei- (“to live”) and Proto-Indo-European *pere- (“to produce, bring forth”).[7] The Latin word also gave vipera and, through French, wyvern.[6][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A venomous snake: as vipera about 1175 in the Ormulum, in the belief that it kills its own father;[3] as vipere probably before 1425 in a translation of Chauliac's surgery,[2] early 15th century according to Etymonline.[7] The OED's first record is Tyndale's Bible (1526), in a verse of Acts that Johnson (1755) also quoted for the word.[6][12]

Semantic evolution

Applied to a spiteful or treacherous person from 1591,[6][2][7] probably in allusion to the Gospel phrase "generation of vipers" (Matthew 3:7).[2] From 1596 a viper nourished in someone's bosom stood for one who betrays a benefactor, after the fable of the viper reared or revived in a person's bosom.[6] An old belief that the young viper ate its way out of its mother lies behind some 17th-century uses.[6] Viper flesh was once thought restorative and was used in medicine: Etymonline notes viper-wine in the 17th century and viper-broth (1707).[7] The word took the place of the native adder for the British snake;[7] in Sussex dialect a viper-blessing was a charm said over someone bitten.[13] In American jazz slang of the 1930s a viper was a habitual smoker of marijuana, as in Louis Armstrong's "Song of the Vipers" (1934), and later a heroin user.[14][6]

Timeline

  • c. 1175 – vipera, a venomous snake.[3]
  • before 1425 – vipere, viper.[2]
  • 1526 – the European viper, in Tyndale's Bible.[6]
  • 1591 – a malicious or treacherous person.[6][2]
  • 1596 – a viper in one's bosom, one who betrays a benefactor.[6]
  • 1934 – a marijuana smoker (US slang).[14] The OED's first record is from 1938.[6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A venomous Old World snake of the family Viperidae, especially the European adder.[15][4][6]
  2. Any of various related snakes, such as the pit viper or the horned viper.[15][6]
  3. A malicious or treacherous person: She realized too late that her partner was a viper.[15][4][6]
  4. (dated slang) A habitual smoker of marijuana.[6][14]

Word family

  • viperish
  • viperishly
  • viperous
  • gaboon viper
  • horned viper
  • pit viper
  • Russell's viper
  • sand viper

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 Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
  4. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  8. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  9. ^ Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  10. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  11. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon 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. ^ 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 Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  15. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins