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SINO-PLATONIC PAPERS Number 91 January, 1999 Phonosymbolism or Etymology: the Case of the Verb “Cop” by Victor H. Mair Victor H. Mair, Editor Sino-Platonic Papers Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305 USA vmair@sas.upenn.edu www.sino-platonic.org SINO-PLATONIC PAPERS FOUNDED 1986 Editor-in-Chief VICTOR H. MAIR Associate Editors MARK SWOFFORD PAULA ROBERTS ISSN 2157-9679 (print) 2157-9687 (online) SINO-PLATONIC PAPERS is an occasional series dedicated to making available to specialists and the interested public the results of research that, because of its unconventional or controversial nature, might otherwise go unpublished. The editor-in-chief actively encourages younger, not yet well established, scholars and independent authors to submit manuscripts for consideration. 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You should also check our Web site at www.sino-platonic.org, as back issues are regularly rereleased for free as PDF editions. Sino-Platonic Papers is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercialNoDerivs 2.5 License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 543 Howard Street, 5th Floor, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA. Victor H. Mair, "Phonosymbolism or Etymology: the Case of the Verb 'Cop'" Sino-Platonic Papers, 91 (January, 1999) Phonosymbolism or Etymology: the Case of the Verb "Cop" Victor H. Mair Department of Asian & Middle Eastern Studies University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305 USA Tel.: 215-898-8432 FAX: 215-573-9617 vrnair@sas.upenn.edu November 24, 1997 rev. January 5, 1999 William Rozycki has written a stimulating article ("Phonosymbolism and the Verb cop") in which he attempts to show that various presumably unrelated languages around the world have independently chosen the syllable leap, or some close variant thereof, to convey the following meanings: II take, grasp, grab, seize, capture". He is able to cite an impressive amount of evidence in favor of his contention. Rozycki explicitly states that he makes no claim for the universality of phonosymbolism, yet the manner in which he presents his argument leads him to come dangerously close to making such an assertion. Here is the distillation of his thesis: .. .I will present both historic and areal evidence that a tendency or force is at work in the connection of the phonetic shape [kap] and the semantic range of 'catch, seize, snatch.' Like suprasegmentals in relation to the workings of phonology, this phonosymbolic force is another dimension, not yet clearly understood, that exerts influence on the process of word formation. After reading and rereading Rozycki's paper several times, I have come to the conclusion that phonosymbolism is not at all like suprasementals, that it is a mystical concept, that it never will be clearly understood, and that it has no effective or discernible influence on the process of word formation -- except for onomatopoeia (and there only to a limited degree because it is well known that people in different cultures come up with radically different imitative sounds for dogs barking [e.g., English "bow-wow" is wang-wang in Mandarin], trees crashing, rain falling, squeals of delight or pain, and so forth). Let us suppose -- purely for the sake of argument -- that there may be some intrinsic, cosmic connection between the configuration of phonemes we transcribe as kap and the galaxy of meanings which cluster around "take I grasp I grab I seize I capture". 1 Victor H. Mair, "Phonosymbolism or Etymology: the Case of the Verb 'Cop'" Sino-Platonic Papers, 91 (January, 1999) ka(ki)- and the verb harau 'clear out, sweep away, wipe off, brush off, drive away, banish; prune; parry; pay; dispose of; wield (a sword) sideways'. Historically, the initial consonant of harau was a labial, and this accounts for the assimilation of ka(ld)- as ending with a labial. The same two characters may be read as kakiharau 'rake (something [e.g., grass]) off. Here too there are questions. First of all, the semantic content of kapparau 'catch away, pilfer, filch, purloin' is actually rather different from that of "cop" (catch, arrest, steal) and its etymon (or, per Rozycki, its phonosymbolic source [shape-rangeD kap 'grasp, grab, seize, take'. Even when it is supposedly functioning as a prefix, ka(ki)- still retains to one degree or another its basic meaning of "scratch; clear away; rake; comb; lop I cut off'. That is to say, whether overtly or not, ka(ki)- implies a rustling I ruffling I raking I swiping I sweeping I scratching sort of movement. Thus kapparau, like virtually all of the other scores of words formed with ka(ki)- as their initial syllable, conveys the idea of sweeping something up or away with a swift, vigorous movement. Whereas "cop" emphasizes the action of taking hold of or apprehending I grabbing I grasping something, kapparau indicates the quick, energetic motion with which something is swept up by a thief. Indeed, the closest synonym in English is the slang word "swipe" (steal, filch), which is undoubtedly related to the word "sweep". Finally, Rozycki states that Backhouse recognizes kapparau as a typical example ofphonosymbolism. Actually, what Backhouse says about kapparau is that it belongs to a verb-forming group of expressive prefixes and that, like other expressive prefixes, it is class-maintaining and semantically intensive'? This is, to be sure, an accurate assessment of the function of ka( ki)- in the word kapparau where it reinforces and intensifies the semantic content of harau. Hence, for all of these reasons (semantic, structural or morphological, functional), kapparau has no bearing on the matter of the alleged phonosymbolism of "COpll < kap. Let us look more closely at the verb "COpll itself. As a noun, "cop" is an informal word for "police officer". It is derived from the slang verb "cop" which means "take unlawfully or without permission; steal, filch", "get hold of; gain or win", or "catcl1, nab".8 The verb "cop" is used in many colorful slang phrases such as "cop out" (renege; back out of responsibility or duty), ','cop a plea" (plea-bargain), "cop a bean" (deflower a virgin), "cop a buzz" (become intoxicated with marijuana), "cop a cherry" (deflower a virgin), and "cop a feel" (touch or feel a woman's sexual parts either as if it were an accident or quite blatantly).9 Inasmuch as several of these expressions have been coined within recent decades, it is clear that the verb "cop" with the meanings "take unlawfully or without permission; steal", "get hold of; gain or win", or "catch" is still highly productive 6 Victor H. Mair, "Phonosymbolism or Etymology: the Case of the Verb 'Cop'" Sino-Platonic Papers, 91 (January, 1999) and well known across broad segments of the American population. There are also a number of other slang expressions employing the verb "cop", some of quite recent coinage, that are unique to British English. 10 The etymology of the slang word "cop" is not easy to trace. Slang being what it is (often highly ephemeral and largely restricted to the oral realm), we cannot expect to find that it has an obvious and upstanding pedigree. Nonetheless, we may attempt to recover the origin of "cop" through various means. IIi the first place, "cop" has been used in the sense of "capture, arrest" since at least 1704 and in the sense of "receive, suffer (something bad) since at least 1884. 11 The Random House Dictionary of the English Language 12 lists the expression "cop out" as occurring already from the period 1695-1705. Its etymology is listed in the same source as deriving from an obsolete verb cap meaning "to snatch" < Scots cap 'seize' < dial. Old French caper 'take' and ultimately < Latine capere. The first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary (vol. 2, p. 967ab) identifies the verb "cop", which it defines as meaning "to capture, catch, lay hold of, 'nab'," as northern dialectical and slang. Its etymological note reads as follows: Perhaps a broad pronunciation of CAP verb2 [see just below] (Old French caper to seize); in nearly all Northern English glossaries; and now of general diffusion in the slang of schoolboys, criminals, policemen, etc. For CAP verb 2 (vol. 2, p. 88b), which is defined simply as meaning "to arrest", the etymological note states that it is apparently adopted from Old French caper 'seize, take', and the first quotation, dating to 1589, reads thus: "Cap him sira, if he pay it not." The noted British authority on slang, Eric Partridge, agrees with the etymology suggested by the OED and adds that cap to cop is a normal argo tic change. 13 My splendid old Century Dictionary (vol. 2, p. 801b) has an excellent entry on the Scots verb cited in the Random House Dictionary etymology. It begins by giving the pronunciation kap and then offering the following etymology: < Dutch kapen (= Swedish kapa) 'seize, catch, make prize of, as a privateer or pirate (> Dutch kaap 'privateering'); apparently < Latin capere 'take, seize, capture': cf. "capable", "captive", "capture", and so forth. This etymology is supported by reference to "caper" (a light-anned vessel of the seventeenth century, used by the Dutch for privateering): = German kaper = French capre, < Dutch kaper (= Danish kaper = Swedish kapare), a privateer < kapen = Swedish kapa (cf. German kapem = Danish kapre, from the noun), 'take, seize, make a prize of at sea' 7 Victor H. Mair, "Phonosymbolism or Etymology: the Case of the Verb 'Cop'" Sino-Platonic Papers, 91 (January, 1999) and another Scotch word, "capper" (seize; lay hold of violently; specifically, to seize [a vessel] as a prlze),14 etc. There are two defmitions given by the Century Dictionary for the Scots verb "cap". The fIrst is "to arrest", for which Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher's The Knight of the Burning Pestle is quoted twice: Twelve shillings you must pay, or I must cap you. (tii.2) Ralph has friends that will not suffer him to be capt for ten times so much. (iii.2) Beaumont and Fletcher wrote The Knight of the Burning Pestle in 1607. The second definition for the verb "cap" in question is lito seize; lay hold of violently; specifIcally to seize (a vessel) as a prize; hence, to entrap or insnare." The entry closes by identifying the verb as Scotch and provincial English. I cannot fInd evidence for the existence of the Scots word caper until 1666 when it occurs at least three or four times, so it was most likely borrowed from Dutch around the middle of the seventeenth century. A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue, noting that it is also spelled keaper, defines the word as meaning "a privateer" or "a captor (in privateering)". The suggested etymology is from Dutch and Flemish kaper. 15 After that time, however, its use becomes quite common and is no longer restricted to privateering. From the mid-nineteenth century, cap is often encountered with the following meanings: "to seize by violence, to lay hold of what is not one's own; a word much used by children at play"; "to take possession of anything used in play out of season"; "to stop the progress of something that is in motion; to arrest; to prevent". It is possible that some of these usages derive not from the Dutch-inspired caper / keaper but are more closely cognate with English "cap" = "to arrest". If so, they would have had to persist solely in the spoken language (which, considering their colloquial nature, is quite possible), since the latter usage became obsolete in English from 1611. 16 Simply because a word is not well documented in the written record does not obviate the necessity of making earnest etymological inquiries concerning its origin. Among the scores of derivatives from IE kap that he cites, Shipley brings to our attention capias, a Latin imperative meaning "arrest him!"17 This he connects with the slang word "copper" and its abbreviated form "cop". Since it is the duty of the "cop" (the policeman) to arrest a miscreant, it certainly would not be surprising if there were a connection between the order of the judge to make an arrest and the offIcer charged with making the arrest. Here is Fennell's entry for capias: 8 Victor H. Mair, "Phonosymbolism or Etymology: the Case of the Verb 'Cop'" Sino-Platonic Papers, 91 (January, 1999) capias, 2nd person singular present subjunctive active of the Latin verb cape re, = 'to seize': literally 'thou mayest seize', name of several writs authorising the sheriff to arrest or seize. Capias ad respondendum, a writ before judgement to take the defendant and make him answer the plaintiff; capias ad satisfaciendum, or ca. sa., a writ of execution of judgment for recovery in a personal action on a person who is to be taken and kept in prison until he give satisfaction; capias pro fine, a writ lying against a person who does not discharge a fine due to the Crown; capias utlagatum, a writ lying against an outlaw upon any action; capias in withernam, a writ lying against beasts under distraint which have been driven out of the county, or concealed. 18 Seventeen citations dating from 1463-4 to 1842 follow, of which I quote only the fust: "Also Whele sends you a capias ut legat against Harlare." (Plumpton Correspondence, p. 9 [Camden Society, 1839].) Practically speaking, a writ for capias amounts to an arrest warrant. Regardless of the specific route that they follow, nearly all authorities now trace the English slang verb "cop" back to Latin capere 'seize' and thence to the IE root kap 'grasp'.19 An extremely interesting alternative (but not entirely unrelated) etymology for "cop" has been proposed by Farmer and Henley: COP has been associated with the root of the Latin cap-io, to seize, to snatch; also with the Gypsy kap or cop = to take; Scotch kep; and Gallic ceapan. Probably, however, its true radix is to be found in the Hebrew cop = a hand or palm. Low-class Jews employ the term, and understand it to refer to the act of snatching.20 As we shall see later in our investigation, the reference to Hebrew may well not be entirely fortuitous. According to The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymo[ogy,21 "cop" is a slang word meaning "capture, catch, nab, steal" and may be a variant of obsolete cap 'to arrest' (1589). The latter, in turn, was borrowed from Middle French caper 'seize', perhaps from Sicilian capere, from Latin capere 'take, hold, seize'; cognate with Greek kaptein 'gulp down', 9 Victor H. Mair, "Phonosymbolism or Etymology: the Case of the Verb 'Coplt' Sino-Platonic Papers, 91 (January, 1999) Albanian kap 'I grasp, seize', Low German happen 'swallow', Gothic hafjan 'raise, lift', and Old English hebban 'heave'. "Heave" itself, meaning "to lift with force or effort", was probably already in use before 1200 in the form heven, which developed from Old English hebban (about 725, in Beowulf), and is cognate with Old Saxon hebbian 'raise, lift', Dutch heffen, Old High German heffen (modem German heben), Old Icelandic hefja, and Gothic hafjan. All of these words are derived from Proto-Germanic *hafjanan, from the base *haf- (when originally accented) and *ha'b- (when originally unaccented) 'take, take hold of (as found in "heft"). Outside of Germanic, additional cognates are Greek kope 'handle', possibly Middle Irish cachtaim 'I take prisoner', Old Irish cacht 'female slave', ~ Welsh caeth 'captive, slave' (cf. English "caitiff' [Middle English caitif'prisoner, captive, wretch', from Old North French, from Latin captlvus 'captive', from captus, past participle of capere, for which see above]), and in Latvian kilmpt 'seize', from IE *kap-, root *kep- / kop- (Pokorny 527). Devoto, Origini Indeuropee, p. 482, no. 535b is KAP (Pokorny 527), under which are listed words such as Old German haben, Gothic hafjan, Lettish kiimpju, Latin capio, Greek.,x'"'1and Albanian kam; no. 535a is GHABH (Pokorny 406 f.), under which are listed Irish gaibid, Old German kepi, Gothic gabei "riches" (perhaps deriving from the notion of "acquisitions", that is, "things which are taken"), Latin habeo, and Umbrian hab-. Devoto gives both of these roots the basic meaning of "take". Since their phonemic constructions (velar / a / labial) are similar -- although the consonants of the latter are voiced and aspirated while those of the former are not -- and their meanings are very close, it is likely that they both derive from some prior common root. Yet that prior root must have split within IndoEuropean early enough for Italic and Germanic to have two separate etymological strains derived from it. The derivation of "captive" from kap- was already recognized by Skeat before 1880 when he gives -,JQAP 'to hold' as its Indogermanic root. Skeat was very conservative and cautious in his identification of roots: "This has only been attempted, for the most part, in cases where the subject scarcely admits of a doubt; it being unadvisable to hazard too m~y guesses, in the present state of our knowledge.... I have here most often referred to Brugmann, Uhlenbeck, Prellwitz, or Kluge." Many words for "captive, prisoner" gathered by Buck, Selected Synonyms, 20.47 (pp. 1414-1415) are clearly derived from the IE root kap-: Latin captlvus (> Old French chetif, now only in secondary sense and as 'captive' replaced by captif> Rumanian captiv; Spanish cautivo), derivative of captus, participle of capere 'take'; Old Norse I Icelandic hap!r, Old English hreftling, Old High German and Middle High German haft (also 10 Victor H. Mair, "Phonosymbolism or Etymology: the Case of the Verb 'Cop'" Sino-Platonic Papers, 91 (January, 1999) adjective 'taken, seized', New High German -haft), beside Gothic hafts 'taken, joined', participle of root seen in Gothic hajjan 'raise" Latin capere 'take', etc. Middle English and New English captive come from the French word. At a more basic level, Latin capere 'seize, take', Gothic hafjan, Old Norse hafa, etc. 'have' show up under Buck's 11.13 TAKE, as do Irish gaibim 'take, seize', New Irish gabhaim but mostly replaced by the compound togaim (for togbhaim, Middle Irish tocbaim 'lift', from *to-od-gab-) : Latin habere 'have', etc., and under 11.11.3,5 HAVE we find a host of cognate words: Latin habere (> Italian avere, French avoir, Rumanian avea) earlier 'hold', whence 'occupy, possess' and finally 'have' : Umbrian habitu, habetu 'habeto', but the older sense in haburent 'ceperint', etc., Irish gaibim 'take, seize', Welsh gafaelu 'hold, grasp', perhaps Lithuanian gabenti 'carry off, transport', all of which derive from IE *ghab(h)- (see my remarks concerning the probable relatedness of *kap- and *ghab(h)- in the paragraph citing Devoto just above), and Gothic haban, Old Norse hafa, Danish have, Swedish hava, Old English habban, Middle English have, New English have, Dutch hebben, Old High German haben, Middle High German haben, New High German haben, general Germanic : Latin capere 'seize, take', Gothic hafjan, Old Norse hefja, etc. 'lift', Lettic kampt 'seize, grasp', all of which derive from IE *kap-. Many of these Germanic words meaning "have" are also listed under Buck's 11.15.4 HOLD. Under Buck's 11.14 SEIZE, GRASP, TAKE HOLD OF we find Irish gaibim 'take, seize' (already mentioned under 11.11), Welsh gafaelu, from gafael'hold, grasp, grip' = Irish gabal, verbal noun of gaibim (see above), and Gothic greipan, Old Norse grTpa, Danish gribe, Swedish gripa, Old English grTpan, Middle English gripe, Dutch grijpen, Old High German grlfan, Middle High German grTjen, New High German (er)greifen : Lithuanian griebti 'seize, grasp at)', Lettic gribet 'wish' (from 'grasp at'), all of the latter group deriving from IE *ghreib-. Buck does not mention the English word "grip" in this connection, but it too is derived from IE *ghreib-. Nor does he mention "grab", which is derived from IE *ghrebh-. In my view, since *ghreib- and *ghrebh- have a similar phonological configuration to that of *kap- and *ghabh-, as well as a related semantic field, they too must have derived from the same pri9r root, although *ghreib- and *ghrebh- are obviously more closely linked to *ghabh- than they are to *kap- (the insertion of the -r- to fonn an initial consonant cluster allowing for expansion and greater delineation of the fundamental meaning of *ghabh- / ghebh- 'give, receive', the latter meaning being the operative one in this case).22 For *ghabh- / ghebh- 'give, receive [> take]', see Watkins, Roots, p. 20b, which lists numerous Germanic and Romance forms and derivatives resulting in the following English words: GIVE, FORGIVE, GIFT, GAVEL, ABLE, BINNACLE, HABILE, HABIT, 11 Victor H. Mair, "Phonosymbolism or Etymology: the Case of the Verb 'Cop'" Sino-Platonic Papers, 91 (January, 1999) HABITABLE, HABITANT, HABITAT, COHABIT, EXHIBIT, INHABIT, INHIBIT, PREBEND, PROHIBIT, PROVENDER, DEBENTURE, DEBIT, DEBT, DEVOIR, DUE, DUTY, ENDEAVOR. For *ghrebh-, Watkins lists Sanskrit (also now English) SATYAGRAHA 'holding finnly to the truth' (the policy of nonviolent resistance advocated by Mahatma Gandhi), GRASP, and GRAB. For *ghreib-, Watkins lists GRIPE, GRIPPE, and GROPE. And for the far more productive *kap-, Watkins lists HEDDLE '[device which] grasps [the thread]" HAFr, HAVE, HEAVY, HAVEN, HAWK, HEAVE, CABLE, CAPABLE, CAPACIOUS, CAPIAS, CAPSTAN, CAPTION, CAPTIOUS, CAPTIVATE, CAPTIVE, CAPTOR, CAPTURE, CATCH, CHASE, ACCEPT, ANTICIPATE, CONCEIVE, DECEIVE, EXCEPT, INCEPTION, INCIPIENT, INTERCEPT, INTUSSUSCEPTION, MUNICIPAL, NUNCUPATIVE, OCCUPY, PARTICIPATE, PERCEIVE, PRECEPT, RECEIVE, RECOVER, RECUPERATE, RX, SUSCEPTIBLE, CAISSON, CAPSICUM, CAPSID, CAPSULE, CASE, CHASE, CHASSIS, CHESS, ENCHASE, BEHOOF, BEHOOVE, and . COPEPOD. These illuminating collections of cognate forms and derviatives are also to be found in the appendix of "Indo-European Roots at the back of the various editions of The II American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. Certainly, there is no simple phonosymbolic explanation that can account for the enormous semantic and phonological complexities of these cognate roots and their multitude of finely nuanced derivatives. It can be shown that all of the languages in which there is a word pronounced something like kap and meaning "take, seize" are related. The first to demonstrate rigorously and extensively the existence of a super-family of languages extending beyond Indo-European to include languages from the Semito-Hamitic (Afro-Asiatic), Kartvelian (South Caucasian), Uralic, Dravidian, and Altaic families was the brilliant young Russian linguist, V. M. lllich-Svit'ich. This macro-family is called Nostratic. Later Nostraticists would add Dene, Sinitic, and other languages. In my estimation, the case for adding Dene and Sinitic to Nostratic is weak; we have already seen that this is so for Sinitic in the present instance of kap 'take, seize'. Sinitic has not been convincingly demonstrated to be a part of Nostratic. To be sure, there are numerous Indo-European (especially Iranian and Tocharian) words in Sinitic, but these have not been shown to be cognates due to a genetic relationship between Sinitic and IE. Rather, they appear to be borrowings which began from at least the Bronze Age and perhaps even from the Late Neolithic. 23 There is no persuasive archeological, historical, genetic, or anthropological evidence that Chinese and Indo-Europeans were ever part of a single demographic or cultural entity, which would have been necessary if their languages were supposedly organically related through a common ancestor. I do not deny 12 Victor H. Mair, "Phonosymbolism or Etymology: the Case of the Verb 'Copllt Sino-Platonic Papers, 91 (January, 1999) that Sinitic and Indo-European bear some sort of relationship to each other, but whatever organic linkage they possess would have been at a much earlier stage, probably during the Paleolithic before Caucasoid Nostratics and Mongoloid Pre-Proto-Sinitic speakers had diverged. Indeed, it has yet to be demonstrated by linguistic and other means that Sinitic or its immediate ancestor (the identity of which is still not known) emerged as a discrete linguistic entity before the second millennium BCE. Furthermore, whenever we find IE words in Sinitic (e.g., those'for "wheat", "cow "dog", "wheel", "magus", "grape", ll , "honey", "Buddha", "tank", "tantalum", "watt", "volt", and so forth), they can all more efficiently and convincingly be demonstrated as loans that occurred during historic and late prehistoric times. Therefore, it is not surprising that there is no word derived from kap 'take, seize, grasp, capture' in Sinitic. In his Op'it Sravneniya Nostraticheskikh Yaz'ikov (vol. 1, pp. 313-315), TIlichSvit'ich presented abundant and convincing evidence of a Nostratic root *~aba I ~apca 'grab' which manifested itself in each of the Nostratic daughter families and which surely must be the ultimate source of Latin capere and all of the other cognates cited above. Since Illich-Svifich's treatment is more densely documented and technically argued than is necessary for our present purposes, I shall cite a simplified listing of the same root from another, more recent source. Bornhard's list of "Common Nostratic Roots" in his Indo-European and the Nostratic Hypothesis includes the following items under entry no. 242: PN *k[hJap[h J- I *k[h Jap[h J- lito take, to seize; hand"; > PIE *k[h Jap[h J- "to take, to seize"; PAA *k[h]ap[h]-I*k[h]a[hJ- lito take, to seize; hand"; PFU *kapp3- "to take, to seize, to grasp", *kiippii "hand, paw"; PD *kapp- "to touch, to feel"; PA *kap- "to grasp, to seize".24 In his Toward Proto-Nostratic, Bornhard provides much more data on the ProtoAfro-Asiatic side in entry no. 135 of chapter 9 (IIComparison of Proto-Indo-European and Proto-Afroasiatic"): PAA *kap- I *kap- "to take, seize; palm, hand": SEM.: PSem. *kapp- --> Hebr. ka" "palm"; AIde kappu "hand"; Ar. kaff, kiffa, kaffa "palm of the hand"; Ug. kp "palm, hand"; ~arsiisi kef "flat of the hand; claw, paw"; Syr. kappa IIpal~ of the hand". EG.: kp "to seize; hollow of the hand or foot". CUSH.: PSC. *kTp- or *kip- "handle" --> Iraqw kipay; Mala -kupuruya "to snatch ll • PlE *kap- "to take, seize": Lat. capio "to take, seize OHG. haft "captivity".25 In Turkic, kap- means 'to grasp, or seize'.26 I consider Turkic to be a relatively young group of languages within Altaic, which is itself a somewhat problematic and relatively young family. Therefore, it is difficult to tell to what extent Nostratic cognates ll ; 13 Victor H. Mair, "Phonosymbolism or Etymology: the Case of the Verb 'Cop'" Sino-Platonic Papers. 91 (January, 1999) such as kap- may actually be the result of massive borrowing during the fonnative stages of PA and Proto-Turkic. The equivalent root of comparable words in modern Dravidian languages manifests itself as Tamil kavar 'seize, grasp, catch, steal, get control of, receive, experience, desire, have sexual connexion with', Kannaq.a kavar 'take away by force, seize, strip, plunder', Telegu kamucu 'hold, seize', and so forth. 27 After this brief investigation of IE kap-, its derivatives in the various daughter languages of the IE family, and its precursors in Nostratic, I shall now make an effort to accommodate the science of etymology with the mysticisim of phonosymbolism. 28 To wit, when the Paleolithic predecessors of Nostratic who first decided that they needed a word meaning roughly "take I grasp I grab I seize", perhaps they were governed by phonosymbolic constraints that caused them to pick only a word sounding like kap- and nothing else. Maybe, at that stage, the first person to create a root that sounded something like **k[h]ap[h]- and meant approximately "take I grasp I grab I seize" was inspired by some ineluctable cosmic phonosymbolism which ca~sed him to choose **k[h]iP[h]- and nothing else. I doubt this, however, since his ancestors undoubtedly had already come up with a word for "hand" that sounded something like **kuph_. The minor genius who decided to make a useful derived verb out of the elemental body-part noun simply worked a slight phonological (and perchance also morphological) change upon the latter. In essence, then, when the first human being proclaimed "I take I grasp / grab / seize it", he / she was merely saying "I hand it" (noun -- verbalized noun --noun). (Actually, the first noun [the personal pronoun] was probably not necessary because the subject or agent may have been morphologically present in or implied by the verb.) Given our realization of the origins of kap- 'take I grasp I grab I seize' in a prior word for "hand" sounding something like **kuph_, we are obliged to investigate the derivation of the latter. As we shall also see below in our discussion of the Semitic cognates, the base of this root would appear to mean essentially "[that which is] bent". Much to our astonishment, we find that the English word "cup", which sounds very muc;h like the Semitic words for "hand", goes back to an IE root keu- that, 10 and behold, means lito bend I be rounded", whence "a round or hollow object". In Modern English, we still talk about the "CUplf of the hand; the hand is that part of the body which we Ifcup". I suspect, therefore, that there exists a deeper layer of semantic and phonological affinity between kap 'take I grasp I grab I seize' and keu- 'bend I be rounded> round or hollow object' than meets the eye. 14 Victor H. Mair, "Phonosymbolism or Etymology: the Case of the Verb 'Cop'" Sino-Platonic Papers, 91 (January, 1999) The affinity "between kap 'take I grasp / grab I seize' and keu- 'bend I be rounded> round or hollow object' becomes more apparent when we examine the extended forms of the latter which are *keub-, *keup-. The zero-grade form of the latter is *kup- 'vessel'. This shows up in suffixed form kup-s- as Greek kupsele 'chest, hollow vessel' (English "cypsela"), in long-vowel suffixed form *kup-a as Latin cupa 'tub, vat' (cf. English "cupola", in expressive form *kupp- as Late Latin cuppa 'drinking vessel' (English "cup"}, and in many other nuanced manifestations. That "cup" is well grounded in Gennanic is evident from the following: Old Frisian kopp 'cup, head'; Middle Low German kopp 'cup', Middle Dutch coppe (Modem Dutch kopje 'cup, head'), Old High German kopf, chuph 'cup' (Modem German Kopj'head'). In the Romance languages, Late Latin cuppa was the source of Italian coppa, Proven~al, Spanish, and Portuguese copa, and Old French coupe, all meaning"cup" . All of this recalls to us the interesting conjecture of Farmer and Henley that the true root of "cop" is the Hebrew word for "hand". Let us explore what possible support there may be for the assertion of such a remote connection. The name of the eleventh letter of the Hebrew alphabet is kaph, meaning "the hollow of the hand". This letter is so called in allusion to its ancient form (see Fig. 3), which the Phoenicians and other Semites of Syria began to use as a graphic sign around 1000 BCE. The name kaph is related to kaphaph 'he benf.29 In Hebrew, kaph also has the following connotations: palm of the hand, hand; sale of the foot; pan, censer; handle; branch (of palm -- so called from its shape); spoon; crest over the female genitals (Post Biblical Hebrew); glove (Post Biblical Hebrew). The Hebrew word kaph is related to Aramaic-Syriac word kapa' 'hollow of the hand, pan, bowl, censer, scale of the balance', Ugaritic kp 'hollow of the hand, bowl', Ethiopian kappu 'hollow of the hand, scale of a balance', Syriac kepheta' 'hollowed place, arch, vault'. All of these words derive from base khphph and literally mean 'that which is bent I curved'. 30 It is, of course, technically incorrect to state that the root of the English slang word "cop" is the Hebrew word kaph 'palm of the hand' as claimed by Farmer and Henley (s~e above), since Hebrew and English belong to different language families and hence are on separate lines of linguistic development. Nevertheless, the observation that there is some sort of connection between English "cop" and Hebrew kaph is a great insight and helps us to see beyond the Hebrew word to Proto-Semitic, thence to PAA, and thence back to a Nostratic stage where it is possible to speak of an etymological connection between the ultimate root of "cop" and kaph. 15 Victor H. Mair, "Phonosymbolism or Etymology: the Case of the Verb 'Cop'" Sino-Platonic Papers, 91 (January, 1999) Thus we have followed the long and convoluted path of "cop" not only through Latin capias 'arrest' and capere 'take' back to IE *kap- 'grasp' and Nostratic **k[hJ~p[hJ­ 'take / grasp / grab / seize', we now find ourselves faced with the very real possibility of some more profound connection with a Pre-Nostratic (perhaps Proto-World?) root ***k8P meaning "bend, curve(d)". We have arrived at this point strictly by applying the rules and laws of the science of etymology. Beyond this, however, we may begin to ask whether phonosymbolism was operative in the choice of ***kap to convey the notion of "bend, curve(d)". I do not know. Perhaps Professor Rozycki can help us to answer this difficult question; I cannot. It is beyond me. It is in the realm of metaphysics and mysticism, at which I am very poor. In terms of the emergence of civilization and the development of elemental human concepts, however, we may roughly sketch out the derivation of the English slang word "cop". Before human beings used vessels of any sort for drinking purposes, perhaps even before Homo sapiens sapiens Gudging from observation of hominid behavior), they cupped their hands to bring water from a pond, stream, river, or lake to their lips. This we still do -- quite naturally -- when we go out into the wilderness ill-equipped. When humans began to acquire the ability to speak, one of them referred to the bending of the palm and fingers to form a hollow for containing the liquid with a word that sounded something like *****kap. They probably already had a general word for bending branches and other objects that sounded something like *****ka. Later, they learned to use bottle gourds and other cucurbits for ladling and containing liquids (there are no native IE words for gourds and cucurbits since these plants are normally tropical or sub-tropical),31 then still later they . discovered how to make vessels from clay and other materials. But they retained derivatives of the old word *****kap to designate hollow objects that can contain things, hence, to mention only a few. cognates in IE languages, Old Icelandic hllfr 'ship's hull', Latin ciipa 'tub, cask', Greek kypellon 'cup', Sanskrit kupa-s 'cave, hole'.3 2 Once they had a word for designating "hollow of the hand", humans could use it to describe actions carried out with that part of the body, hence "grab" and "grasp.". Subsequently, they could extend the usage of the derived verbs to specify various different kinds of grabbing and grasping, thus "capture". Finally, in accord with their playful propensities and fecund inventiveness, it was inevitable that they would create new nouns and slang terms based on the derived verbs, hence "caper" (a privateer or his vessel), "cap", and -- at long last -- "cop". Let us return once more, however, to kap, which is the main focus of our investigation. If we wish to determine why many languages use a word that sounds like 16 Victor H. Mair, "Phonosymbolism or Etymology: the Case of the Verb teop'" Sino-Platonic Papers, 91 (January, 1999) kap to mean "take / grasp / grab / seize / capture", we are forced by the science of etymology and all of the rules of historical linguistics to trace that word back at least to the stage of Nostratic, which is already very remote and still poorly understood. In any event, when we reach back in time beyond the Neolithic daughter languages (PIE, PAA, PFU, PD, and perhaps PA) of Nostratic, we find that we cannot simply concern ourselves with **k[hJap[hJ- 'take I grasp / grab / seize' alone; we are compelled to explore the derivation of that root from a prior root meaning "hand", and, beyond that, we cannot escape the duty of determining the origins of the root for "bend[edness]" which resulted in the word for "hand". Thus, there seems to be almost an infmite regression from word to word and from root to root until we arrive at the moment when the first human being uttered a semiintelligible word. 33 But here we are confronting the problem of the very invention of language, and when it comes to that, I have no idea why our remote ancestors chose the sounds they did to convey the various meanings they had in mind. At this point in our deliberations, a host of even BIGGER QUESTIONS assails us. We must seriously ask, "What is human?" Were Neanderthals human? Are only Homo sapiens sapiens human? Did language begin only with Cro Magnons? Were there precursors to human language in the grunts, groans, and expostulations of the early hominids? Did the early hominids mimic the barks, calls, and cries of the wild animals among whom they lived? I cannot pretend to have even the beginning of an answer to any of these perplexing questions; they are far beyond my capacity and resources to discover. Consequently, I shall content myself with the more mundane task of figuring out etymologies and leave the mysterious paths of phonosymbolism for others to explore. Be that as it may, I shall close, with the following observations: 1. Even if phonosymbolism is a valid linguistic tool for the elucidation of some words besides those which are obviously onomatopoeic (where I do believe that it is patently applicable), it can only have been so at the earliest stage of the invention of human language (a stage which is beyond our present ability to recover). 2. At best, phonosymbolism can be used to explain merely a tiny portion of the vast lexicons belonging to human languages. 3. Only the science of etymology can clarify the development of the subtle nuances differentiating the words which constitute the enormous lexicons of modem languages from ancient roots (Le., kap alone cannot illuminate the vast proliferation of useful derivatives -- including the verb tleop" -- stemming from it; kap is only the beginning [within IE languages] of any search for the origins of its derivatives; to understand them fully, one must employ precise, elaborate concepts of morphology, phonology, affixation, and other analytical tools of linguistics). 4. If phonosymbolism were valid (whether universally or not), all human 17 Victor H. Mair, "Phonosymbo)ism or Etymo)ogy: the Case of the Verb 'Cop'" Sino-Platonic Papers, 91 (January, 1999) beings would tend to speak the same language and would continuously reinvent the same language even in isolation from each other. Since this is not the case, the value of phonosymbolism in linguistic inquiry would appear to be extremely limited. ABBREVIATIONS PN = Proto-Nostratic; PIE = Proto-Indo-European; PAA = Proto-Afro-Asiatic; PFU = Proto-Finno-Ugrian; PD = Proto-Dravidian; PA = Proto-Altaic; NOTES I am grateful to S. Robert Ramsey, William C. Hannas, Youngro Yoon Song, and Haewon Kim for helping me with the Korean words cited in this article and to Michael Carr for calling William Rozycki's article to my attention. 1. Mair, "Suen Wu-kung = Hanumat?" 2. Schuessler, A Dictionary of Early Zhou Chinese, pp. 285b-286a. 3. For Li and Schuessler, see Schuessler, ibid., p. 285a; Chou, Pronouncing Dictionary, p. 57; Chang, "Old Chinese", p. 5. 4. Coblin, Handlist. 5. Martin, Korean-English Dictionary, p. 1397b-1398a. 6. Proctor, Illustrated International Dictionary, pp. 88 and 476. 7. "The Expressive Stratum in Modem Japanese", p. 74. 8. By far the most elaborate account of the verb "cop" and its development in the United States is to be found in Lighter, ed., Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang, pp. 480b-482a. Lighter and his colleagues show little interest in the etymology of 18 Victor H. Mair, "Phonosymbolism or Etymology: the Case of the Verb 'Cop'" Sino-Platonic Papers, 91 (January, 1999) the verb, however, other than to mention that it may be traced back to Dutch kapen 'to take' via Early Modern English cap in similar senses. The early history of the verb "cop" in Britain is covered extensively in Partridge, A Dictionary o/the Underworld, p. 148b. 9. Spears, Slang and Euphemism, p. 84b. The American Thesaurus of Slang by Berrey and van den Bark (p. 967bc) lists dozens of additional expressions which I shall not bother to define individually: cop an out, cop a bag, cop a creep, cop a deuceways, cop a gander, cop a getaway, cop a heat, cop a lam, cop a leather, cop a lift, cop a listen, cop a look, cop a nod, cop a phinney, cop a sight, cop a sneak, cop a snooze, cop a Sunday, cop a win, cop the bacon, cop the bunting, cop the coin, cop the crown, cop the title, cop the curtain, cop the flag, cop the pennant, cop the laughs (laffs), cop the lead, cop the pot, cop the race, cop the sack, cop the works. Jonathon Green, in The Slang Thesaurus (p. 173b) offers a number of other expressions used primarily in Britain: cop a decko, cop a dose, cop a drop, cop a heel, cop a moke, cop a packet, cop a sight (of), cop a squat, cop an attitude, cop one's bird, cop onels joint, cop out (on), cop shop, cop (some) Zs, cop the lot. The combined lists of Green and Berrey & van den Bark, though lengthy, are not exhaustive, since I have also come across other expressions such as cop a fiver, cop a goose, cop a joint, cop a mope, cop a quim, cop a register, cop a slave, cop a walk, cop for, cop it hot, cop off, cop on, cop on the cross, cop-bumper, cop-out man, cop(-) simple, cop-shop, cop-sop, cop (someone's) drawers, cop that lot!, cop the borax, cop the brewery, cop the bullet, cop the coin, cop the drop, cop the edge, cop the needle, cop the tale, and copbusy in various sources. 10. Ayto and Simpson, Oxford Dictionary of Modem Slang, p. 42a. 11. Ibid., loco cit. 12. Op. cit., unabridged, 2nd ed., p. 447b. 13. Partridge, Slang, p. 253e. 14. Kluge, Etymologisches Worterbuch, p. 354a, informs us that kapern was borrowed into German from Dutch during the 17th century, so we cannot trace the word back any further in German. 19 Victor H. Mair, "Phonosymbolism or Etymology: the Case of the Verb 'Cop'" Sino-Platonic Papers, 91 (January, 1999) 15. Craigie, ed., Ope cit., vol. 1, p. 432b. 16. Grant and Murison, ed., The Scottish National Dictionary, vol. 2, p. 32b. 17. Origins, p. 157. 18. Stanford Dictionary, p. 200b. 19. E.g., Onions, Oxford Dictionary of English EtYmology, p. 213b. 20. Slang and Its Analogues, vol. 2, p. 178b. 21. Ope cit., pp. 219a, 143a, and 472a. 22. Shipley, Origins, p. 118. 23. Cf. Mair, "Language and Script: Biology, Archaeology, and (Pre)history" and "Old Sinitic *mYag, Old Persian magus, and English 'Magician"'; also Chang, IIIndo-European Vocabulary in Old Chinese"; 0stmoe, "A Germanic-Tai Linguistic Puzzle"; and Lubotsky, "Tocharian Loan Words in Old Chinese". 24. Ope cit.. , p. 168. 25. Ope cit., p. 233. For his references, Bornhard cites Buck 1949: §4.33, § 11.14; Pokorny 1959: 527-28; and Walde-Pokorny 1973.1: 342-45. He states that he owes this etymology to Gary Rendsburg. 26. Clauson, Etymological Dictionary of Pre-Thirteenth-Century Turkish, p. 580a. 27. Burrow and Emeneau, Dravidian Etylnological Dictionaryp. 123b-124a. 28. For the legitimate role ofphonosymbolism within etymology, see Malkiel, EtymoLogy, pp. 13, 81, 88, 125-6, 146, 149, 169. 29. Klein, Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, p. 399c. 20 Victor H. Mair, '~Phonosymbo1ism or Etymology: the Case of the Verb 'Cop'" Sino-Platonic Papers, 91 (January, 1999) 30. Klein, Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the Hebrew Language, p. 282a. 31. Mair, "Southern Bottle-Gourd (hu-Iu) Myths." 32. Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology, p. 484a. 33. At the same time there was a linear progression of words from roots to derivatives and from earlier derivatives to subsequent derivatives, there was also a lateral expansion of related meanings from early roots. For example, there seems to be some sort of relationship between kap 'seize / grasp / grab' and the English word "keep" which means "hold on to, retain possession of, detain," etc. The latter word can be traced back to Middle English kepen and Old English cipan 'seize, hold, guard'. Beyond this, the word "keep" is generally considered to be of obscure origin, but already it appears that there is some semantic and phonemic overlap with kap 'seize I grasp I grab'. The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology (p. 562b) dates kepen to 1127 and defines it as "watch for, observe, retain, hold, take, keep; developed from Old English (about 1000) cepan (from Proto-Germanic *kopjanan), possibly related to capian to look. Old English capian is cognate with Old Saxon capen in upcapen stand out, be visible, Middle Low Gennan kapen to gape, Old High German kapfen to look, and Old Icelandic kopa to stare, gape, from Proto Germanic *kap- / kop, Indo-European *gab- / giib- watch, look out for (Pokorny 349)." Barnhart then goes on to quote and summarize Murray's long etymological note on "keep": "'The word probably belonged primarily to the vulgar and nonliterary stratum of the language; but it comes up suddenly into literary use about 1000, and that in many senses, indicating considerable previous development.' Murray felt the original sense may have been 'to lay hold' in the literal sense and so extended figuratively to 'keep an eye on, watch,' citing its use to render Latin observiire to watch, take note of, and Latin servare to watch, observe. He states further that there is an underlying semantic relation betwe~n keep and hold, and further with have explaining that the same senses have alternated in use among these words." It seems to me that Murray, without explicitly saying so, has put his finger on a very important, underlying relatedness between "keep" and kap. 21 Victor H. Mair, "Phonosymbolism or Etymology: the Case of the Verb 'COp"' Sino-Platonic Papers, 91 (January, 1999) BmLIOGRAPHY Ayto, John and John Simpson. The Oxford Dictionary of Modem Slang. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1992. Backhouse, A. E. "The Expressive Stratum in Modern Japanese." Gengo Kenkyii (Journal of the Linguistic Society of Japan), 83 (1983),61-78. Barnhart, Robert K., ed. The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology. New York: H. W. Wilson, 1988. Berrey, Lester V. and Melvin van den Bark. The American Thesaurus of Slang. Second edition. A complete reference book of colloquial speech. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1942, 1947, 1952 (2nd ed.), 1953. Bomhard, Allan R. Indo-European and the Nostratic Hypothesis. Charleston, South Carolina: Signum, 1996. _ _ _ _ _. Toward Proto-Nostratic: A New Approach to the Comparison of ProtoIndo-European and Proto-Afroasiatic. Foreword by Paul J. Hopper. Amsterdam Studies in the Theory and History of Linguistic Science. Series N -- Current Issues in Linguistic Theory, Vol. 27. Amsterdam I Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 1984. Buck, Carl Darling. A Dictionary of Selected Synonyms in the Principal Indo-European Languages: A Contribution to the History of Ideas. Chicago & London: The University of Chicago Press, 1949. Burrow, T. and M. B. Emeneau. A Dravidian Etymological Dictionary. Second Edition. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1984. The Century Dictionary: An Encyclopedic Lexicon of the English Language. Prepared under the superintendence of William Dwight Whitney. New York: Century, 1889. 22 Victor H. Mair, "Phonosymbolism or Etymology: the Case of the Verb 'Cop'" Sino-Platonic Papers, 91 (January, 1999) Chang, Tsung-tung. "Indo-European Vocabulary in Old Chinese: A New Thesis on the Emergence of Chinese Language and Civilization in the Late Neolithic Age." Sino-Platonic Papers,7 (January, 1988), 56 pages. Chou Fa-Kao, chief ed. A Pronouncing Dictionary of Chinese Characters in Archaic & Ancient Chinese, Mandarin & Cantonese. Hong Kong: The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1973. Clauson, Gerard. An Etymological Dictionary of Pre-Thirteenth-Century Turkish. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1972. Coblin, Weldon South. A Sinologist's Handlist of Sino-Tibetan Lexical Comparisons. Monumenta Serica Monograph Series, xvm. Nettetal: Steyler, 1986. Craigie, William A. A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue: From the Twelfth Century to the End of the Seventeenth. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press and London: Humphrey Milford, Oxford University Press, 1937 (7) and continuing. Devoto, Giacomo. Origini Indeuropee. Tabelle. "Origines": Studi e Materiali pubblicati a cura delltIstituto Italiano di Preistoria e Protostoria. Florence: Sansoni, 1962. Fanner, John S. and W. E. Henley, compo and ed. Slang and Its Analogues, Past and Present: A Dictionary, Historical and Comparative, of the Heterodox Speech of all Classes of Society for more than Three Hundred Years. With Synonyms in English, French, Gennan, Italian, etc. 7 vols. Printed for Subscribers Only by Thomas Poulter and Sons, Limited, 6, Arthur Street West, London Bridge, E.C. 1890-1904. Reprinted in one volume as A Dictionary of Slang: An Alphabetical History of Colloquial, Unorthodox, Underground and Vulgar English. Hertfordshire: Wordsworth, 1987. Fennell, C. A. M. The Stanford Dictionary of Anglicised Words and Phrases. Cambridge: At the University Press, 1892; reprinted 1964. Grant, William and David D. Murison, ed. The Scottish National Dictionary. Designed Partly on Regional Lines and Parly on Historical Principles, and Containing All the 23 Victor H. Mair, "Phonosymbolism or Etymology: the Case of the Verb 'Cop'" Sino-Platonic Papers, 91 (January, 1999) Scottish Words Known to Be in Use or to Have Been in Use since c. 1700. Edingurgh: The Scottish National Dictionary Association, 1929-1976. Green, Jonathon. The Slang Thesaurus. London: Elm Tree Books, 1986. Illich-Svit'ich, V. M. Op'it Sravneniya Nostraticheskikh Yaz'ikov. 2 vols. Moscow: Nauka, 1971-76. Karlgren, Bernhard. Analytic Dictionary of Chinese and Sino-Japanese. New York: Dover, 1974; unabridged and unaltered republication of the work originally published by the Librairie Orientaliste Paul Geuthner, Paris, 1923. _____. Grammata Serica Recensa. Reprinted from the Bulletin of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, 29 (Stockholm, 1957). Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. Dealing with the origin of words and their sense development thus illustrating the history of civilization and culture. Unabridged, one-volume edition. Amsterdam, Oxford, New York: Elsevier Scientific, 1971. _ _ _ _ _. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the Hebrew Language for Readers of English. New York: Macmillan; London: Collier Macmillan, 1987. Kluge, Friedrich. Etymologisches Worterbuch der deutschen Sprache. 22. Auflage unter Mithilfe von Max Biirgisser und Bernd Gregor vollig neu bearbeitet von Elmar Seebold. Berlin, New York: Walter de Gruyter, 1989. Lehmann, Winfred P. A Gothic Etymological Dictionary. Based on the third edition of Vergleichendes Worterbuch der Gotischen Sprache by Sigmund Feist. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1986. Lighter, J. E., ed. Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang. New York: Random House, 1994 and continuing. 24 Victor H. Mair, tlPhonosymbolism or Etymology: the Case of the Verb 'Cop'" Sino-Platonic Papers, 91 (January, 1999) Lubotsky, Alexander. IITocharian Loan Words in Old Chinese: Chariots, Chariot Gear, and Town Building." In Victor H. 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Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Sinology. Section on Literature. Taipei: Academia Sinica, 1989. Pp. 659-752. Republished in The Indian Journal of Asian Studies, 3.1-2 (1991), 1-104 (actually appeared in 1996). Malkiel, Yakov. Etymology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993. Murray, James A. H., et al. The Oxford English Dictionary (OED). 13 vols. with Supplement and Bibliography. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1933. Onions, C. T., ed. The Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. Oxford: At the Clarendon Press, 1966; rpt. with corrections, 1983. 0stmoe, Arne. "A Germanic-Tai Linguistic Puzzle." Sino-Platonic Papers, 64 (January, 1995), 81 pages. 25 Victor H. Mair, "Phonosymbolism or Etymology: the Case of the Verb 'Cop'" Sino-Platonic Papers, 91 (January, 1999) Partridge, Eric. A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English. Colloquialisms and Catch-phrases, Solecisms and Catachreses, Nicknames and Vulgarisms. Paul Beale, ed. New York: Macmillan, 1961; 1984, 8th ed. with new material. _ _ _ _ _. A Dictionary of the Underworld. British & American. Being the Vocabularies of Crooks, Criminals, Racketeers, Beggars and Tramps, Convicts, the Commercial Underworld, the Dru,g Traffic, the White Slave Traffic, Spivs. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1949; 1968, 3rd ed. rev. and enlgd. Pokorny, Julius. Indogermanisches Etymologisches Worterbuch. I. Band. Bern and Munich: Francke, 1959. Proctor, Claude O. Illustrated International Dictionary. Georgetown, Texas: Rotary Club of Georgetown, 1990. Rozycki, William. "Phonosymbolism and the Verb cop." Journal of English Linguistics, 25.3 (September, 1997), 202-206. Schuessler, Axel. A Dictionary of Early Zhou Chinese. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1987. Shipley, Joseph T. The Origins of English Words: A Discursive Dictionary of IndoEuropean Roots. Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1984. Spears, Richard A. Slang and Euphemism: A dictionary of oaths, curses, insults, sexual slang and metaphor, racial slurs, drug talk, homosexual lingo, and related matters. Middle Village, New York: Jonathan David, 1981. Watkins, Calvert, ed. and rev. The American Heritage Dictionary of Indo-European Roots. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1985. Wieger, L. Chinese Characters: Their Origin, Etymology, History, Classification and Signification. A Thorough Study from Chinese Documents. L. Davrout, tr. New York: Paragon and Dover, 1965; unabridged and unaltered republication of the second edition, 26 Victor H. Mair, "Phonosymbolism or Etymology': the Case of the Verb 'Cop'" Sino-Platonic Papers, 91 (January, 1999) published by the Catholic Mission Press in 1927; enlarged and revised according to the 4th French edition. The first English edition of Chinese Characters was published in 1915. FIGURES Fig. 1. Ancient forms ofjia 'press from two sides, squeeze'. jial;.Jt to press; to squeeze; double jia2rJfo. a lined coat jia1t.tft pincers; blacksmith's tongs; sword handle; sword; two sides of sword; sword with blades at either end (now normally pronouncedjia2) jia4j[~ a butterfly (insect with wings on either side of its body) jia4# pincers, chopsticks; torture instruments; a box jia4~ to twinkle (of eyes)* jia4:Jtf name of a place in Henan (now normally pronouncedjia2); room(s) at side(s) of gate jia4 ~ pods; husks jial;4. pincers; to pinch xia2",,;~a mountain pass xia2 ~1fo narrow; strait ria3 ~r a gorge; a defIle sia4 ~~ moist; soaked; a circuit; a period xia4~ a place in Hubei (literal meaning "gorge"; now usually pronounced xia2) xia4~ cheek(s), jowl(s), jaw(s) xie21~ to pinch; press; clasp under the arm; carry; cherish; protect xie 11~ a hero (normally explained as one who carries with him 27 Victor H. Mair, "Phonosymbolism or Etymology: the Case of the Verb 'Cop'" Sino-Platonic Papers, 91 (January, 1999) vitality / strength and / or righteousness that he employs to aid / support / succor others; etc.). Now usually pronounced xia2. jiel,* brave; a hero qie4 ,t~ pleased; cheerful qie4f! a trunk; a chest; long and narrow box; portfolio (two halves fold together to store objects placed within) qie4f§. pleased; saQ.sfied a trunk; a satchel qie4 l yi4 tl Yi4J1j to bury peace; respect; retired *This sinograph is now considered to have the following pronunciations and meanings: jie2 lashes (on either side of the eye) zha3 she4 jia2 ya4 blink (bringing together the upper and lower eyelids) blink take a glimpse of cast playful/ flirtatious glance N.B.: Many of the characters in the main list have multiple pronunciations and meanings. To save space, I have only listed the variant pronunciations and meanings of a few of them. Fig. 2. Instances of the sino graph used to write the word jta 'press from two sides, squeeze' being used as a phonophore in other graphs (except for the last two examples where it is said to be radical). The numerals following the transcriptions indicate the tones of Modem Standard Mandarin. The information presented in this figure is drawn primarily from Wieger, Chinese Characters, p. 454ab with a few additions from Karl gren , Grammata Serica Recensa, no. 630 and other sources. Fig. 3. Early fonns of the letter kaph. 28 Since June 2006, all new issues of Sino-Platonic Papers have been published electronically on the Web and are accessible to readers at no charge. Back issues are also being released periodically in e-editions, also free. For a complete catalog of Sino-Platonic Papers, with links to free issues, visit the SPP Web site. www.sino-platonic.org