loupe

n.

'loop'

(Modern English loop)

Etymology

There have been two principal approaches to this difficult word (which TGD simply labels 'obscure'): (1) Early attempts were made to derive ME loupe from the pres. stem of the ON v. represented by OIcel hlaupa ‘to leap, jump; run’ (cp. Go -hlaupan, OE hlēapan, OFris hlāpa, OS pret pl -hliopun, MLG, MDu lopen, OHG (h)loufan), perhaps via a nominal form like OIcel hlaup ‘leap, jump’ (thus Skeat (see also (2), GDS, and in part MED (see also (3)). However, while ME /o:/ is plausible reflex of the diphthong in ON hlaup, the ME instances are uniformly spelt <ou>, requiring an etymon that could result in ME /u:/ (regularly unaffected by the Great Vowel Shift before /p/). (2) Alternatively, derivation from a Celtic noun represented by Ir lúb 'loop, ring, circle', Gael lùb 'bend, winding; loop, noose’ (etc.) (cp. the related verbs Ir lúbaid 'bends, twists', Gael lùb 'to bend'), would supply the necessary high back vowel and, moreover, a better parallel to the sense of the ME n. (thus Skeat 1904: 154-5, followed by Kullnick 1902: 27, OED). (3) A blend of (2) and (3) has been suggested. Contra MED, the vocalism of ON hlaup is problematic, but it is not unreasonable to posit a loan from Celtic whose final consonant was influenced by association with the /p/ proper to the Gmc *xlaup- word family. (4) ME loupe is occasionally treated with the homophone loupe (as probably at Gaw 792 and PDE loop as in loop-hole), of similarly difficult origin. The two words now tend to be separated etymologically (thus e.g. OED, which connects loop(-hole) with MDu lūpen (Du luipen) ‘to lie in wait’), but there remains the possibility of connecting them and taking the loop-hole meaning as original, i.e. the original referent being the hole rather than the material forming its outside. In this case MDu lūp- could just conceivably lie behind ME loupe, but the sense distance remains considerable.

PGmc Ancestor

(1) *xlaup-

Proposed ON Etymon (OIcel representative)

(1) hlaup ‘leap, jump’, hlaupa ‘to leap, jump; run’  
(ONP (1) hlaup (sb.); hlaupa (vb.),)

Other Scandinavian Reflexes

(1) Icel hlaup, Norw laup, Dan løb, Sw löp; Far leypa, Icel hlaupa, Norw laupa, Dan løbe, Sw löpa

OE Cognate

(1) hlēapan (v.) 'to leap, run, go, dance, jump, spring'

Phonological and morphological markers

[ON /au/ < PGmc */au/] (may not be applicable)

Summary category

DD1c

Attestation

MED lists only four further occurrences: from DT, the Chs. text a1475 Bk.Courtesy (Sln 1986), and two other 15c. texts (?c1425 *Chauliac(2) (Paris angl.25) and the N ?c1475 *Cath.Angl.(Add 15562)).

Occurrences in the Gersum Corpus

Gaw 591 

Bibliography

MED loupe (n.1) , OED loop (n.1) , ODEE loop, Dance loupe; (1) OED leap v. , de Vries hlaupa, Mag. hlaupa, Bj-L. løpe, Seebold hlaup-a-, Orel *xlaupan ~ *xlaupaz; *xlaupanan, Kroonen *hlaupan-, AEW hlēapan; (2) eDIL lúb , MacBain lùb; (4) MED loup(e (n.2) , OED loop (n.2) , Bense 194