vnhap (1)

n.

WA vnhapp, vnhappe

'mishap, misfortune, disaster'

(Modern English )

Etymology

Formed on hap, and cp. OIcel óhapp ‘bad fortune’.

PGmc Ancestor

*xap(p)- 

Proposed ON Etymon (OIcel representative)

happ ‘good luck, chance’; cp. óhapp ‘bad fortune’
(ONP happ (sb.); cp. óhapp (sb.))

Other Scandinavian Reflexes

Far happ, Icel happ, Norw happ, Sw dial happ

OE Cognate

cp. gehæp and gehæplic (adj.) ‘fit, convenient, opportune'

Phonological and morphological markers

Summary category

C1

Attestation

Common and widespread from early ME.

Occurrences in the Gersum Corpus

Gaw 438; Cl 143, 892, 1150; WA 3287, 4554

Gaw 2511 vnhap is interpreted as another instance of this n. by several editions (and see Menner 1926: 399–400, Wright 1935: 347–8), but as a v. meaning ‘unfasten’ by TGD, AW, PS and McGillivray; see vnhap (2).

Bibliography

MED unhap (n.) , OED unhap (n.) , HTOED , Dance vnhap