Etymology

ME gapen is usually derived from ON, cp. OIcel gapa 'to gape, open the mouth wide', < a wk. 2 v. on PGmc *gap-; cp. MDu, MLG, MHG gaffen.  The OE ofergapian cited as cognate by some authorities is found only in the late BenRWells, in a mid-eleventh-century MS.

PGmc Ancestor

*gap-

Proposed ON Etymon (OIcel representative)

gapa ‘to gape, open the mouth wide’
(ONP gapa (2) (vb.))

Other Scandinavian Reflexes

Far gapa, Icel gapa, Norw gapa, Dan gape, Sw gapa

OE Cognate

cp. late OE ofergapian

Phonological and morphological markers

Summary category

B2a

Attestation

ME gapen is first attested as a simplex in the Katherine Group, and is then common and widespread from the early 14c.

Occurrences in the Gersum Corpus

WA 3870

See also gopnyng.

Bibliography

MED gāpen (v.), OED gape (v.), Dance *glopnyng, Bj. 150, de Vries gapa, Mag. gapa, Bj-L. gape, Orel *ʒapōjanan, Kroonen *gapp/bōn-, AEW ofer-gapian (p. 124)