Etymograph

English

loop

Loop comes from Middle English loupe ‘noose, loop’, from Old Norse hlaup ‘a run’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *klewb- ‘to spring’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*klewb-‘to spring’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hlaupaną‘to leap, run’reconstructed
  3. Old Norsec. 800–1350hlaupa‘to leap’
  4. Old Norse, derivedc. 800–1350hlaup‘a run’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500loupe‘noose, loop’
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1597loop

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*klewb-‘to spring’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hlaupaną‘to leap, run’reconstructed
  3. Old Norsec. 800–1350hlaupa‘to leap’
  4. Old Norse, derivedc. 800–1350hlaup‘a run’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500loupe‘noose, loop’
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1597loop

Earliest quotation: c. 1597, William Shakespeare, The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]: “And stop all sight-holes, every loop from whence /…”

Linked words

through Proto-Germanic *hlaupaną ‘to leap, run’

leap, gallop, wallop, 3 more

through Old Norse hlaupa ‘to leap’

lope, 1 more

Today it means

noun A length of thread, line or rope that is doubled over to make an opening.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *klewb- / loop

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