harpe

Forms

harpe f (plural harpes)^[1] Old French harpe and arpe.^[1] Middle French also herpe.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French harpe, inherited from Late Latin harpa,^[1][3] a word of Germanic origin, from Proto-Germanic *harpǭ.^[1][4][5][6] The TLFi and Bloch and Wartburg reconstruct a Germanic word for a stringed instrument, reflected in Old High German harfa, Middle High German harpe, German Harfe and English harp; the word reached Late Latin through legionaries of Germanic origin and is found in Venantius Fortunatus in the 6th century.^[4][5][7] In Old Norse harpa also named a kind of mollusc.^[4]

Pierre Guiraud linked the word with a Romance word for a claw and Old French harper “to seize”, the harp being plucked with the fingertips, and the Grand Robert accepts an early contact between the two families;^[7][8][2] Diez, cited by Littré, already took the instrument's name to come from its hooked shape.^[7][8][2]

Cognate with Italian arpa, Occitan arpa, Catalan arpa, Spanish arpa and Portuguese harpa.^[9][1][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word first appears at the end of the 11th century as a French gloss, harpe, in Rashi's commentaries;^[4] the Psalters of the early 12th century use it for the harp of the Psalms: Regehissez al segnur en harpe, “confess the Lord with the harp”.^[4][3][2]

Semantic evolution

The instrument the word names changed shape over the centuries: in the 16th century it also covered instruments like the lyre and the lute, and only at the beginning of the 19th century did it name the large concert instrument improved by Érard.^[7][10] As with lyre in a Greek setting, la harpe de David became a metaphor for sacred poetry (Lamartine, 1820).^[7][3] The harpe éolienne, strung on a frame and sounded by the wind, is recorded in 1807 in Madame de Staël.^[3]

From its likeness to the old instrument's shape, harpe has named a mollusc since 1742.^[4][7] The derivative harpiste (1677) held its ground against the later harpeur (1808), while the verb harper “to play the harp” (12th century) has gone out of use.^[7][5]

Timeline

• Late 11th century – Harpe glosses the instrument in Rashi's commentaries.^[4]
• c. 1120 – Recorded in the Cambridge Psalter.^[3][11]
• 12th century – Harper “to play the harp” is attested.^[7]
• 16th century – The word also covers lyre- and lute-like instruments.^[7][10]
• 1634 – Jouer de la harpe “to steal” is recorded in slang.^[11]
• 1677 – Harpiste is first recorded.^[7][5]
• 1742 – First used for a mollusc, by Dezallier d'Argenville.^[4][11]
• 1807 – Harpe éolienne appears in Madame de Staël.^[3]
• 1820 – Lamartine uses harpe de David for sacred poetry.^[7][3]
• Early 19th century – The word settles on the large concert harp perfected by Érard.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A harp, a large stringed instrument with a roughly triangular frame and strings of unequal length plucked with both hands: jouer de la harpe.^[10][4][1]
2. Harpe celtique, harpe irlandaise: the Celtic or Irish harp.^[10]
3. Harpe éolienne: an Aeolian harp, a frame of strings sounded by the wind.^[3]
4. (figurative, dated) Sacred poetry, by allusion to the harp of David: la harpe de David.^[10][7]
5. (zoology) A harp shell, a sea snail of the family Harpidae.^[1][4][10]

Word family

• harpiste

Usage notes

The Grand Robert and the TLFi list a second word harpe (harpe 2), recorded from 1409 for a bent iron joining timbers to a wall, then for a stone left jutting from a wall to bond with later masonry (1485) and, in hunting, a hound's claw (1549); in slang it meant a finger, whence jouer de la harpe “to steal”.^[4][8][11] Its origin is uncertain: the TLFi derives the building senses from harper “to seize” and the claw from Old Occitan arpa (“claw”), from Latin harpe (“sickle”), mixed with the family of the instrument's name.^[4][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
5. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 16, 172b
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
11. ^ a b c d Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF