drúpa

Forms

drúpa (weak verb, past tense drúpti, past participle drúpt)^[1][2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *drūpōjan-, a weak verb formed on the strong verb Proto-Germanic *dreupaną (“to drip”), which gave drjúpa (“to drip”), Old English drēopan, Old Saxon driopan and Old High German triofan.^[3] The closest cognates are Old English drūpian (“to drip”), Middle Dutch drūpen and Dutch druipen (“to drip”).^[4][5][6] Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon relates dreypa and dropi (“drop”) as well.^[6] Cleasby–Vigfússon already keep it apart from the verb for “to drip”.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Menota first has the infinitive drúpa in Holm perg 17 4to (1290–1310).^[8] ONP's first dated citation, of 1300, has the sense “to hang one's head in grief”: er þæir sia konungenn sua daprlega drúpa, þa ryggiaz þæir “when they see the king droop so dejectedly, they grieve”.^[9]

Semantic evolution

In prose the verb is used above all of mourning, and of whole countries: Sua drupir Danmo᷎rk sem dauðr se Knútr son minn “Denmark droops as though my son Knútr were dead”.^[9] Cleasby–Vigfússon note this figurative use for the land after the death of a bishop or king.^[7] In poetry, the head bowed in sorrow is set against the head held high, and the verb also means to rise with the top bent forward, as of the eagle over the door of Valhǫll.^[10][11] ONP has one late citation in the sense “to drip”, perhaps for dreypa.^[9] Icelandic keeps drúpa “to hang one's head, be sad”.^[12][6] The MED derives Middle English droupen, English droop, from it, but Gersum thinks a native Old English verb more likely, since Old English has the noun drūpung.^[13][14][3]

Timeline

• 1290–1310 – drúpa in Holm perg 17 4to.^[8]
• 1300 – sua daprlega drúpa in ONP's first dated citation (Thom).^[9]
• 1312 – Sua drupir Danmo᷎rk (Jvs).^[9]
• 1330–1370 – drúpir in Hallfreðar saga in AM 132 fol.^[15]
• 1525 – drúpa “to drip” in a variant reading (Gibb).^[9]

Meanings

Verb

1. to droop, hang one's head; to mourn.^[9][1][16]
2. to hang or hover over something.^[2][1][11]
3. to drip.^[9]

Word family

• drúpna

Descendants

• Icelandic drúpa^[12]

Related words

• drjúpa
• dreypa
• dropi

References

1. ^ a b c Zoëga, Geir T. (1910), A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. drúpa
2. ^ a b Fritzner, Johan (1886–1896), Ordbog over det gamle norske Sprog, 2nd ed., Kristiania, p. s.v. drúpa
3. ^ a b Dance, Richard; Pons-Sanz, Sara; Schorn, Brittany, eds., The Gersum Project: The Scandinavian Influence on English Vocabulary, gersum.org
4. ^ de Vries, Jan (1977), Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 2nd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. 85
5. ^ Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 78
6. ^ a b c Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon (1989), Íslensk orðsifjabók, Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans, ordsifjabok.arnastofnun.is, p. s.v. drúpa
7. ^ a b Cleasby, Richard; Vigfússon, Guðbrandur (1874), An Icelandic-English Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 108
8. ^ a b Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. Holm perg 17 4to
9. ^ a b c d e f g h Ordbog over det norrøne prosasprog / A Dictionary of Old Norse Prose, Copenhagen, onp.ku.dk (CC BY-SA 4.0), p. s.v. drúpa
10. ^ Finnur Jónsson (1931), Lexicon Poeticum antiquæ linguæ septentrionalis, 2nd ed., Copenhagen: S. L. Møller, p. 89
11. ^ a b Gering, Hugo (1915), Glossar zu den Liedern der Edda, 4th ed., Paderborn, p. 33
12. ^ a b Sigfús Blöndal (1920–1924), Islandsk-dansk ordbog, Reykjavík, p. 144
13. ^ 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)
14. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
15. ^ Menota: Medieval Nordic Text Archive, menota.org (texts by shelfmark; CC BY-SA 4.0), p. AM 132 fol
16. ^ Baetke, Walter (1965–1968), Wörterbuch zur altnordischen Prosaliteratur, Berlin (digital ed. Greifswald 2006), p. 94