stuppo

Forms

stuppō (present infinitive stuppāre, perfect active stuppāvī, supine stuppātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

Niermeyer and the DMLBS derive it from stuppa (“tow, coarse flax”), the material used to plug gaps: from Latin stuppa + -ō.^[2][3][1] The DMLBS compares Classical stīpō (“to pack tight”), Old English forstoppian and Anglo-Norman estoper.^[3] Wiktionary instead takes it as a borrowing from Frankish *stoppōn (“to stop, plug”), perhaps blended with the Latin noun.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The DMLBS's first example is a Waltham charter of 1190, in which the grantors reserve the right to dam the waters to lead them to a mill.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In glossaries it means to stuff with tow, or to break into fibres.^[3] In English records it is used of stopping a gap or breach, such as a hole made by the wind in a park fence (1198), of blocking a road or path (1242, 1275), and of stopping the flow of water or blood.^[3] Niermeyer gives it the senses to plug or stop up.^[2] A charter of 1473 uses it in the legal sense of being barred, estopped, from a claim.^[3]

The French verb from it, Old French ⟨estoper⟩ “to plug, block”, gave the English legal verb, first recorded in the 1530s.^[4]

Timeline

• 1190 – A Waltham charter uses it of damming water for a mill.^[3]
• 1198 – The Norman exchequer rolls use it of mending a breach in a park fence.^[3]
• 1242 – A Durham assize roll says two roads from the forest have been blocked.^[3]
• 1473 – A patent letter uses it of being legally barred.^[3]
• 1530s – English estop is first recorded, from Anglo-French.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. (Medieval Latin) To stuff or caulk with tow.^[3]
2. (Medieval Latin) To stop up, plug, block (a gap, a road, a flow of water).^[3][2][1]
3. (Medieval Latin, law) To bar, estop.^[3]

Related words

• English stop
• English estop

Usage notes

The DMLBS also spells it stoppare, estupare and extupare.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com