happe

v. (wk.)

Gaw past, pp. happed; Pat pp. happed

‘to cover; to wrap, clasp, fasten’ (Modern English hap)

Etymology

This word has been connected plausibly to a variety of possible sources, but its relationship to these words (and their relationship to each other) is not entirely clear: (1) Comparisons are sometimes made to a group of North Sea Gmc verbs (viz. LG, Du happen, Fris happe ‘to seize’) and to a group of Fr verbs AN haper, OFr happer ‘to seize quickly, grab, catch hold of (etc.)'), which may or may not be related to each other but show a striking coincidence in form and sense. The former are conventionally derived (with ‘emphatic’ gemination) from PIE *kap- ‘to catch’, but they are attested only from the 16c. and could be much more recent imitative formations (de Vries and de Tollenaere). The Fr word is recorded much earlier and usually taken as an independent sound-symbolic creation (so AEW, DEAF). However, none of these words correspond very closely with ME happe in meaning. (2) TGD relates instead ME haspen 'to clasp, fasten', derived on the OE n. hæpse 'hasp, fastening' (cp. OIcel hespa, MDu, MLG, MHG haspe < PGmc *hasp-). Happe could ult. be derived from the same source as ME hasp- (if PGmc *hasp- < an earlier *hap-s-), but the ulterior etymology of Gmc *hasp- is very unclear and other possible explanations have been offered. (3) The ME word's distribution has led to speculation about a possible ON etymon (OED, OED3). McGee refers to OIcel hefta (later variant hepta) 'to bind, fetter, hold back, restrain' (cp. Go haftjan ‘to hold fast to, join’, OE hæftan ‘to bind, fetter; arrest, detain, imprison; condemn’, OFris hefta, OS heftian, OHG heften ‘to fortify, secure’ (etc.)) < PGmc *haft-. As McGee observes, a loss of final /t/ is paralleled in English dial. words of likely ON derivation like skiff (< ON skipta). While this etymon would better explain the sense of the ME, the required late Viking Age sound change /ft/ > /pt/ is attested nowhere else in the corpus of possible ON loans in ME (see Bj. 301) and so it is very unlikely.

PGmc Ancestor

(1) *haf-; (2) *hasp-; (3) *haft-

Proposed ON Etymon (OIcel representative)

(2) cp. hespa 'fastening'; (3) hefta, hepta 'to bind, fetter, hold back, restrain' 
(ONP (3) haft (sb.), hefta (vb.))

Other Scandinavian Reflexes

(1) Dan happe, hjappe, Sw happe, hjappe; (3) Far hefta, Icel hefta, Norw hefta, Dan hefte, Sw häfta 

OE Cognate

(2) hæpse (n.) 'hasp, fastening'; (3) hæftan ‘to bind, fetter; arrest, detain, imprison; condemn’

Phonological and morphological markers

Summary category

DD1c

Attestation

The overwhelming majority of MED's small number of citations (from the late 14c. onwards) are in N and E texts, with sense (1) (‘to cover over, attach by wrapping, embrace’) attested mainly in alliterative verse.

Occurrences in the Gersum Corpus

Gaw 655, 864, 1224; Cl 626; Pat 450

Gaw 1224 happe is printed haue by Madden; on the sense here see PS 1223–4n.

Bibliography

MED happen (v.2) , OED3 hap (v.2) , HTOED , EDD hap (v.2 and sb. 2) Dance happe; (1) Nielsen happe, Hellquist hjappe, de Vries and de Tollenaere happen, Kluge-Seebold Happen, Kroonen *happ/bōn- (1), AND haper, FEW happ-, DEAF haper (v.), OED3 hap v.3 ; (2) de Vries hespa (1), Mag hespa (1), Orel *xasp(j)ōn, AEW hæsp, hæpse, Lloyd and Lühr haspil, Kluge-Seebold Haspe; (3) de Vries hapt; hepta, hefta, Mag. haft; hefta, Bj-L. hefte, Heid. hafta-, Seebold haf-ja-, Orel *xaftan ~ *xaftaz; *xaftjanan, AEW hæft (1); hæftan