karpa

Forms

karpa v (weak, past tense in -aði)^[1]

Etymology

Its origin is uncertain.^[2][3] It stands beside the noun karp (“boasting”), with the dialect word Swedish karpa (“to chatter, wrangle”) and the compound karpyrði (“boastful words”).^[3][2] Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon takes it as probably related to karna, kurr and kæra (“complaint”), as an extension in -b- of the Indo-European root of that word.^[3]

de Vries reports Hirt's comparison with Lithuanian gerbti (“to honour”) and Old Prussian gerbt (“to speak”), from a root of praise, but notes that the Scandinavian words do not point to the labiovelar this needs; he suggests instead a link with the root of karmr.^[2] Jóhannesson lists it under the root of gjarn (“eager”).^[4] Köbler compares korpr and kǫpurorð.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The verb meant “to brag, boast”, the sense of the noun karp in the kings' sagas.^[1][5] ONP marks the verb as poetic, and in the rímur it means “to wrangle, bicker”.^[6][7] Modern Icelandic karpa means both “to argue” and “to boast”.^[3][8] Middle English carpen (“to speak”) is from the Norse word.^[2][9]

Timeline

• 1237 – the noun karp in sva sẏnizt mer sem minna se nu karp þitt “it seems to me your boasting is smaller now”.^[10]

Meanings

Verb

1. to brag, boast.^[1][5]
2. to wrangle, bicker.^[7][8]

Descendants

• Icelandic karpa^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c Cleasby, Richard; Vigfússon, Guðbrandur (1874), An Icelandic-English Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 332
2. ^ a b c d de Vries, Jan (1977), Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 2nd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. 302
3. ^ a b c d e Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon (1989), Íslensk orðsifjabók, Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans, ordsifjabok.arnastofnun.is, p. s.v. karpa
4. ^ Jóhannesson, Alexander (1956), Isländisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern, p. 360
5. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard, Altnordisches Wörterbuch, online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary database copy), p. s.v. karpa
6. ^ Ordbog over det norrøne prosasprog / A Dictionary of Old Norse Prose, Copenhagen, onp.ku.dk (CC BY-SA 4.0), p. s.v. karpa
7. ^ a b Finnur Jónsson (1926–1928), Ordbog til de af Samfund til udg. af gammel nordisk litteratur udgivne rímur samt til de af Dr. O. Jiriczek udgivne Bósarímur, Copenhagen, p. 206
8. ^ a b Sigfús Blöndal (1920–1924), Islandsk-dansk ordbog, Reykjavík, p. 420
9. ^ Björkman, Erik (1900–1902), Scandinavian Loan-Words in Middle English, 2 vols, Halle: Niemeyer (Studien zur englischen Philologie 7, 11), p. 215
10. ^ Ordbog over det norrøne prosasprog / A Dictionary of Old Norse Prose, Copenhagen, onp.ku.dk (CC BY-SA 4.0), p. s.v. karp