Etymograph

English

sip

Sip comes from Middle English sippen ‘to sip, to drink slowly, small mouthfuls at a…’.

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500sippen‘to sip, to drink slowly, small mouthfuls at a time’
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1697sip

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500sippen‘to sip, to drink slowly, small mouthfuls at a time’
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1697sip

Earliest quotation: 1697, Virgil, The Second Book of the Æneis: “[She] rais'd it to her mouth with sober grace;…”

The story

Inherited from Middle English sippen, of uncertain origin.uncertain The source flags this step as uncertain. Possibly from a variant of Middle English suppen (‘to drink, sip’) (see sup) or perhaps from Old English sipian, sypian (‘to take in moisture, soak, macerate’), from Proto-Germanic *sipōną (‘to drip, trickle’), from Proto-Indo-European *seyb- (‘to pour out, trickle, leak out’).

Every English word from Middle English sippen

Today it means

noun A small mouthful of drink.

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

Etymograph / Middle English sippen / sip

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