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kappen

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Etymology and origin of the Dutch word kappen

kappen1 to chop

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Inherited
First attested
1240 Middle Dutch (Limburg)
Inherited from
Proto-West Germanic *kappōn via Middle Dutch, Old Dutch
Ultimate origin
Proto-West Germanic *kappōn

Forms

kappen[1]

Etymology

The verb meaning “to chop” is inherited from Middle Dutch cappen (“to chop, cleave”), inherited from Old Dutch *kappon, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *kappōn (“to chop, cut off”), as Wiktionary traces it.[1][2] The EWN calls it a West Germanic word whose further origin is unknown.[2] Beside it stand Low German kappen, from which German kappen (“to cut through”) (17th century) and, as a sailors' word, Swedish kappa (1698, now kapa) were taken, and probably also the Alsatian dialect word Alemannic German kchapfen (“to chop small”) and Middle English choppen, modern English chop and chap (“to split”).[2][3][4]

A loan from Medieval Latin cappō (“to chop, cut up, castrate”) is unlikely, the EWN argues: that word was mainly southern European, where it gave Spanish capar and Portuguese capar (“to castrate”), and it would have given Middle Dutch *capperen.[2] De Vries likewise doubts that the Medieval Latin verb was the model, since it is lacking in French;[5][3][6][4] Franck–Van Wijk, De Vries & De Tollenaere and the Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal see no proof that the Germanic word was borrowed from the Romance one.[5][3][6][4] The EWN considers instead a loan from a pre-Indo-European substrate language, in which case Old English cippian (“to cut off”) and kippen “to hatch” may be related;[2][5] Kuhn, cited by De Vries, thought both the Latin and the Germanic words came from an unknown third language.[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb is first recorded around 1240 in a Limburg glossary, where cappen renders Latin dissecare, “to cut apart”.[7][2][8] A Flemish text of 1351 says someone cappese ... al te stucken, “chopped them (the poplar leaves) all to pieces”.[2][9]

Semantic evolution

The verb is a synonym of hakken; in the northern Netherlands it came to be used mainly for felling and lopping trees, while in Zeeland Flanders and Flemish Belgium, where hakken is unknown in popular speech, it is the ordinary word in all its senses.[4][2] A text of 1632 describes a man who took an axe en kapte veel, “and chopped a lot”, at a tree, and one of 1645 speaks of hacking with sabres in close fighting;[4] kappen en kerven “hack and hew” was a common pair.[4] The noun kap “a blow with an axe” is recorded from 1714 and “the felling of timber” from 1795.[2]

Het anker kappen, a sailors' phrase that Winschoten lists in 1681, now means to make off in a hurry.[10][11] The colloquial kappen met “to stop doing something” is recorded from 1970.[2][11] In Surinamese Dutch kappen also means to wound or kill with a machete.[12] The verb was borrowed into Danish (kappe), Norwegian (kappe) and Swedish (kappa), from Dutch or Low German, and into Negerhollands (kap), Berbice Dutch (kapu), Papiamentu (kap) and Sranan Tongo (kapu, older kappe).[13]

Timeline

  • 1240 – Cappen glosses Latin dissecare in a Limburg glossary.[7][14]
  • 1351 – A Flemish text uses cappen for chopping leaves to pieces.[9]
  • 1632 – Kappen is used of chopping at a tree with an axe.[4]
  • 1645 – The verb is used of hacking with sabres.[4]
  • 1681 – Winschoten lists anker kappen among sailors' terms.[10]
  • 1698 – Swedish kappa is first recorded, as a sailors' word.[2]
  • 1714 – The noun kap “blow with an axe” is first recorded.[2]
  • 1970 – Kappen met “to stop doing” is first recorded.[2]

Meanings

Verb

  1. (intransitive) To chop or hack with an axe or similar tool.[11][1]
  2. (intransitive, informal) To stop, to quit (kappen met something).[11][1]
  3. (transitive) To fell a tree.[11][1]
  4. (transitive) To cut into pieces by chopping; to make or free by chopping.[11]
  5. (sport) To play the ball with backspin.[11]
  6. (football) To stop the ball and turn away with it, sending the opponent the wrong way.[11]

Word family

  • afkappen
  • kaalkappen
  • loskappen
  • uitkappen
  • gekap
  • kapping
  • kapmes
  • kapbeitel
  • kaphamer
  • kapverbod
  • steenkapper

kappen2 to dress the hair

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1340 Middle Dutch (Flanders)
Ultimate origin
Late Latin cappa

Forms

kappen[1]

Etymology

The verb for dressing the hair is inherited from Middle Dutch cappen (“to put on (a hood or hat)”), from Middle Dutch cappe (“hood, cap”), modern kap.[9][5][2] The noun is borrowed from Late Latin cappa (“head covering”).[2] Middle Low German kappen and Middle High German kappen had the same sense “to put on a cap”.[5][3]

The modern sense is usually explained by the model of French coiffer, “to cover the head” and “to dress the hair”, from coiffe (“cap”).[5][3][4][6] De Vries adds that putting on the cap was the last step in dressing a lady's hair; the EWN explains the shift by the custom of women wearing a decorative cap, after which the word spread to dressing the hair with or without one, and to men.[5][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A Flemish text of 1340 has een hoedekin up haer hooft ghecapt, “a little hat set on her head”.[9] A Holland account of 1343 uses the verb for putting a top (a kap) on a mill.[9]

Semantic evolution

In the 17th century iemand kappen could also mean to fool someone, recorded from 1613.[4] Sewel's dictionary of 1691 has kappen “to put a cap on the hair”, and kapsel, then a woman's head covering.[2] The sense “to dress the hair” is dated to 1717 by Van der Sijs; the EWN finds it used of a man's hair in 1732 and of a woman's in 1765, and in 't hair gekapt (1784) meant with the hair dressed but no cap.[14][2]

Kapper “hairdresser” is recorded from 1732, and Franck–Van Wijk see it as modelled on French coiffeur.[2][3] Kapsel came to mean a man's hairstyle in 1732 and a woman's in 1784, and kapsalon (1881) is a loan translation of French salon de coiffure.[2] Sranan Tongo borrowed the verb as kapu “to do the hair, to dress up”.[13]

Timeline

  • 1340 – Cappen “to put on (a hat)” is recorded in Flanders.[9]
  • 1613 – Iemand kappen “to fool someone” is first recorded.[4]
  • 1691 – Sewel records kappen “to put a cap on the hair” and kapsel.[2]
  • 1717 – The sense “to dress the hair” is first recorded.[14][15]
  • 1732 – Kapper “hairdresser” is first recorded.[2]
  • 1881 – Kapsalon “hairdresser's” is first recorded.[2]

Meanings

Verb

  1. (transitive) To dress someone's hair: to cut it and put it in a style.[11][15][4]
  2. (reflexive) zich laten kappen: to have one's hair done.[4]
  3. (obsolete) To put a cap or hood on someone.[4]

Word family

  • kapper
  • kapster
  • kapsel
  • kapsalon
  • kaptafel
  • kapspiegel
  • haarkapper
  • kap
  • English chop
  • German kappen

Usage notes

In the Netherlands kappen “to chop” is used almost only of felling or lopping trees and in kappen met “to stop”; in Belgium it is the general word for what the Netherlands calls hakken.[2] There, haarkapper “hairdresser” is also said, to tell it from kapper “chopper”.[2] The oath ik laat mij aan hachjes kappen, literally “I'll let myself be chopped into bits”, underlines that something is true.[16]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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 Philippa, Marlies; Debrabandere, Frans; Quak, Arend; Schoonheim, Tanneke; Sijs, Nicoline van der (2003–2009), Etymologisch woordenboek van het Nederlands, 4 vols., Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press; online via etymologiebank.nl
  3. ^ a b c d e f Franck, Johannes; Wijk, Nicolaas van (1912), Franck's Etymologisch woordenboek der Nederlandsche taal, 2nd ed., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Vries, Matthias de; Winkel, L. A. te, et al. (1882–1998), Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal, 29 vols., 's-Gravenhage / Leiden: Nijhoff / Sijthoff / SDU; supplement 2001; gtb.ivdnt.org
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Vries, Jan de (1971), Nederlands etymologisch woordenboek, Leiden: Brill
  6. ^ a b c Vries, Jan de; Tollenaere, Félicien de (2004), Etymologisch woordenboek: onze woorden, hun oorsprong en ontwikkeling, 23rd ed., Utrecht: Het Spectrum, p. 187
  7. ^ a b Pijnenburg, W. J. J., et al. (2001), Vroegmiddelnederlands woordenboek: woordenboek van het Nederlands van de dertiende eeuw in hoofdzaak op basis van het Corpus-Gysseling, Leiden: Instituut voor Nederlandse Lexicologie; gtb.ivdnt.org
  8. ^ Haeringen, C. B. van (1936), Etymologisch woordenboek der Nederlandsche taal: Supplement, 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff
  9. ^ a b c d e f Verwijs, Eelco; Verdam, Jacob (1885–1929), Middelnederlandsch woordenboek, 11 vols., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff; gtb.ivdnt.org
  10. ^ a b Winschoten, Wigardus à (1681), Seeman: behelsende een grondige uitlegging van de Neederlandse konst- en spreekwoorden, voor soo veel die uit de seevaart sijn ontleend, Leiden
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h i Van Dale Groot woordenboek hedendaags Nederlands (2014), Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale Uitgevers
  12. ^ Donselaar, J. van (1989), Woordenboek van het Surinaams-Nederlands, Muiderberg: Coutinho
  13. ^ a b Sijs, Nicoline van der (2010), Nederlandse woorden wereldwijd, Den Haag: Sdu; with additions from the Uitleenwoordenbank (2015)
  14. ^ a b c Sijs, Nicoline van der (2001), Chronologisch woordenboek: de ouderdom en herkomst van onze woorden en betekenissen, Amsterdam / Antwerpen: Veen
  15. ^ a b WikiWoordenboek (Dutch Wiktionary), nl.wiktionary.org
  16. ^ Sterkenburg, P. G. J. van (2001), Vloeken: een cultuurbepaalde reactie op woede, irritatie en frustratie, 2nd ed., Den Haag: Sdu

Related etymologies

  • voor · also from Proto-West Germanic
  • kunnen · also from Proto-West Germanic
  • zullen · also from Proto-West Germanic
  • weten · also from Proto-West Germanic
  • willen · also from Proto-West Germanic
  • als · also from Proto-West Germanic
  • doen · also from Proto-West Germanic
  • met · also from Proto-West Germanic
Cite this entry

“Kappen.” Etymologically, 15 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/nl/kappen. Accessed 16 Nov. 2026.

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