Etymology

Most editors read *glopnyng, the vbl. n. from the well-attested ME v. glopnen (see further discussion by text). It is recorded both in the active sense, ‘to fill with fear, frighten, alarm, startle’ (MED sense (a); cp. OED sense (2)), and a passive one describing the effects of the foregoing, viz. ‘to be distressed, be filled with fear or grief’  (MED sense (b); cp. OED sense (1b)). ME glopnen and its related forms (incl. those without the n-suffix) are attested only in N dial in ME and mainly so in PDE (see Attestation), and it is probably for this reason that most authorities derive them from ON and cite the comparison OIcel glúpna ‘to look downcast, let the countenance fall, as one about to cry’ (without the n-suffix, cp. near cognates Norw glūpa ‘to seize in the jaws, swallow’, OFris glūpa ‘to peep’, MLG glūpen ‘to peep, look through half-closed eyes’, perh. further connected to a set of words the original meaning of whose root was probably ‘to gape’ vel sim). These incl. zero-grade forms matching the vocalism with an /o/, supposing an ON *glop-, viz. Icel glopa ‘to drop’, Far gloppa ‘to stand a little open; put ajar’, Norw glopa ‘to be open, gulp’ and the related adj. with -n as in Norw glopen ‘voracious’, Sw dial glopen ‘emaciated’, Dan dial glovven ‘greedy’. None of these comparanda exactly matches ME glop(n)en in terms of sense, but OIcel glúpna shows a relatively close semantic development, where the original idea of gaping has come to denote staring in a dejected fashion, perh. via gaping in surprise or alarm, which also appears to be the meaning underlying the association with surprise and dismay found in English (apparently preserved in EDD’s sense (2), ‘to be startled; to stare with astonishment, open one eyes; to look with a sullen or malicious countenance’). Loan of ME glop(n)en < an ON *glop(n)- in something like this sense is therefore plausible, even if no directly compatible etymon is known. See also gopnyng (n.).

PGmc Ancestor

*glop(n)-

Proposed ON Etymon (OIcel representative)

cp. glúpna ‘to look downcast, let the countenance fall, as one about to cry’
(ONP cp. glúpna (vb.))

Other Scandinavian Reflexes

OE Cognate

Phonological and morphological markers

Summary category

D1c

Attestation

The verbal n. glopning is recorded by MED also from Cursor and AMA.  The v. is cited from AW.T, and then only from late ME N texts (esp. Cursor and alliterative verse); cp. further forglopned (earliest in Orrm). Mainly N/EM (Wm. as far south as Stf. and Shr.) in MnE dial (see esp. EDD sense 2, OED).

Occurrences in the Gersum Corpus

Gaw 2461

The MS reading <gopnyng> at Gaw 2461 (‘For to haf greued Gaynour and gart hir to dyʒe, / With glopnyng of þat ilke gome þat gostlych speked (2460-1)) is usually emended to *glopnyng; the MS reading is only retained by Madden (glossing 'affright' purely from context) and Vant (see further gopnyng (n.))

Bibliography

MED glopning (ger.) , OED gloppen (v.) , EDD gloppen (v. and adj.), Dance *glopnyng, Bj. 241, de Vries glúpna, Mag. gleypa; glopa; glúpna, Torp NnEO glop, Orel *ʒlūpnōjanan, Kroonen *glupp/bōn-