Etymology
The ME v. is most likely formed within English on
hap (n.) +
-en suffix; cp. OIcel
heppnast (v.) 'to have good luck'.
OED3 notes that in some forms this v. would be identical with its
hap (v.1) (also < ON
happ), which is perhaps the reason that
MED (s.v.
happen) appears to suggest some input or continuity from late OE
hæppan, attested only once, from Ælfric with a slightly different sense ?'go by chance, move accidentally' (
DOE). Yet as
OED3 concludes 'even if the Old English verb indeed shows a derivative of the same Germanic base (which in Old English is otherwise only attested in a different sense: see hap n.1), it remains uncertain whether there is any continuity with later Middle English use'.
PGmc Ancestor
*xap(p)-
Proposed ON Etymon (OIcel representative)
happ (n.) ‘good luck, chance’; cp. heppnast (v.) 'to have good luck'
(ONP happ (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