nap English · revision 39388

+ English has three main words spelled ''nap'': a short sleep, a native word; the raised surface of cloth, taken from Dutch or Low German; and a card game named after Napoleon.^(AHD 2024)^(Hoad 1986)^(Klein 1966)

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /næp/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ {{homograph|1|short sleep}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=Old English, Vespasian Psalter}}

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The sleep is [[inh|enm|nappen|t=to doze]], [[inh|ang|hnappian|t=to doze, sleep lightly]] (Mercian [[m|ang|hneappian]]).^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(AHD 2024) It is related to [[goh|hnaffezan|t=to doze]], which survives as dialectal German [[m|de|nafzen]], and to [[no|napp|t=nap]].^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024)^(Hoad 1986) The Old High German verb is an intensive formation from the same Germanic base,^(OED 2026) but the further origin is unknown.^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986)^(OED 2026) Weekley linked it with words for a quick closing of the eyes,^(Weekley 1921) and Partridge thought it ultimately imitative.^(Partridge 1966)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ To sleep lightly or briefly, in the Vespasian Psalter, before 830;^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 2026) in earlier use it could also be figurative.^(OED 2026) An Old English Gospel says of the ten virgins of Matthew 25:5 that they all "hnappudon … & slepun".^(Weekley 1921)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Weekley notes that the word was once more dignified than it is now.^(Weekley 1921) A Middle English psalm translation says of the keeper of Israel that he "shal not nappen ne slepen", where the King James Version has "neither slumber nor sleep".^(AHD 2024)^(AHD) In Middle English it could also mean "be sleepy" or "be careless".^(Etymonline)^(OED 2026) The noun, formed from the verb, appears about 1353,^(Barnhart 1988) and ''take a nap'' about 1400.^(Etymonline) The phrase ''to catch someone napping'', to find them off guard, is recorded from before 1576.^(OED 2026) Johnson (1755) defined the noun as "slumber; a short sleep".^(Johnson 1755)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * before 830 – ''hneappian'', to doze (Vespasian Psalter).^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * c. 1353 – the noun ''nappe'', a short sleep.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * a1382 – transitive, to put to sleep (obsolete).^(OED 2026)

+ * c. 1400 – ''take a nap''.^(Etymonline)

+ * a1576 – ''catch napping''.^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To sleep for a short time, especially during the day; [[doze]].^(AHD 2024)^(Collins 2023)

+ # To be off guard or unaware of danger, especially in ''catch someone napping''.^(AHD 2024)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # A short sleep, especially in the daytime: ''a nap after lunch''.^(AHD 2024)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[catnap]]

+ * [[naptime]]

+

+ {{homograph|2|surface of cloth}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=borrowing|attested=1374, Exchequer Rolls of Scotland}}

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The surface of cloth is [[inh|enm|noppe]], probably [[bor|dum|noppe|t=tuft of wool, nap]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline) perhaps brought in by Flemish cloth-workers.^(Etymonline)^(Weekley 1921) Hoad and the Oxford Dictionary of English connect it with [[m|dum|noppen|t=to trim the nap]].^(Hoad 1986)^(ODE 2010) It is related to [[gml|noppe|t=tuft of wool]] and [[ang|hnoppian|t=to pluck]].^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(Klein 1966) The OED allows that it may instead continue the related Old English element [[m|ang|-hnoppa]].^(OED 2026) The spelling ''nap'' appears in 1589, perhaps influenced by [[frm|nape|t=tablecloth]].^(Barnhart 1988)^(AHD 2024)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Woolly material shorn from the surface of cloth and used to stuff pillows and mattresses, 1374, in the Exchequer Rolls of Scotland; this sense was obsolete by 1780.^(OED 2026) The raised layer of fibres on a fabric is recorded in 1440, in the Promptorium Parvulorum.^(OED 2026)^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ From 1591, in Spenser, it described any soft, downy surface resembling the nap of cloth.^(OED 2026) In the late 16th and 17th centuries it was used figuratively of wit,^(OED 2026) and in American colloquial speech of the 1840s, ''to get one's nap up'' meant to lose one's temper.^(OED 2026) From 1798 the word also refers to the direction in which the fibres lie.^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1374 – shorn woolly material used as stuffing.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1440 – ''noppe'', the raised fibres on cloth.^(OED 2026)^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1589 – the spelling ''nap''.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1591 – a soft downy surface (Spenser).^(OED 2026)

+ * 1843 – ''get one's nap up'', to lose one's temper (US).^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The short raised fibres on the surface of a fabric such as [[velvet]] or [[corduroy]].^(AHD 2024)^(SOED 2002)

+ # A soft, downy surface resembling this.^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[napless]]

+

+ {{homograph|3|card game}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=clipping|attested=early 19th century}}

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The card game is a shortening of [[napoleon]],^(Hoad 1986)^(Klein 1966)^(SOED 2002)^(Weekley 1921) the name of a twenty-franc gold coin of France, after the emperor Napoleon I, and the original name of the game.^(Hoad 1986)^(ODE 2010)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ In the early 19th century it meant the coin, and by the middle of the century the card game.^(SOED 2002)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In the game, a player who undertakes to win all five tricks is said to ''go nap'', earlier ''go the Napoleon'';^(Hoad 1986)^(SOED 2002) figuratively, to go nap is to risk everything on one attempt.^(SOED 2002)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * early 19th century – a napoleon coin.^(SOED 2002)

+ * mid 19th century – the card game.^(SOED 2002)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A card game in which each player is dealt five cards and bids the number of [[trick|alt=tricks]] they expect to win.^(SOED 2002)

+ # A bid to win all five tricks in this game.^(SOED 2002)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[napoleon]]

+ * [[napkin]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ In Scots and in some English dialects (Cheshire, Oxfordshire, Suffolk), a ''nap'' was a wooden vessel, especially one for milk.^(Wright 1898) It continues the Old English word for a cup or bowl, [[ang|hnæp]], which has a separate source.^(MED)^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}