harpe

See also: Harpe, harpé, and harpë

English

Etymology 1

From Ancient Greek ἅρπη (hárpē).

Noun

harpe (plural harpes)

1. (Ancient Greece) A type of curved weapon or implement, variously described as a sickle, a pruning hook, or a curved sword like a scimitar. In later depictions it became a combination of a straight sword on one side and a curved blade on the other.

Translations

Ancient Greek blade

• Ancient Greek: ἅρπη (hárpē)
• Japanese: ハルパー (harupā)

Etymology 2

From Middle English harpe.

Noun

harpe (plural harpes)

1. (obsolete) Alternative form of harp.

Anagrams

• Phrae, hepar, phare, raphe

Danish

Etymology

From Old Danish harpæ, from Old Norse harpa (“harp”), from Proto-Germanic *harpǭ. Compare Norwegian Bokmål harpe, Swedish and Icelandic harpa, German Harfe, Dutch and English harp.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /harpə/, [ˈhɑːb̥ə]

Noun

harpe c (singular definite harpen, plural indefinite harper)

1. (music) harp

Declension

Declension of harpe

common gender	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	harpe	harpen	harper	harperne
genitive	harpes	harpens	harpers	harpernes

References

• “harpe” in Den Danske Ordbog

French

Pronunciation

• ^{(aspirated h)} IPA^(key): /aʁp/

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Somain)):

  (file)

Etymology 1

Inherited from Middle French harpe, from Old French harpe, arpe, from Late Latin harpa, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *harpǭ. Cognate with Occitan arpa, Italian arpa, Spanish arpa, Portuguese harpa, etc.

Noun

harpe f (plural harpes)

1. (music) A triangular musical instrument played by plucking strings with the fingers; a harp.
2. Any member of the sea snail mollusc family Harpidae; a harp snail.
3. Ellipsis of harpe de David (“David's harp; metaphorical, poetic inspiration; a calming force”).

Derived terms

• harpe-lyre
• harpiste
• harpolyre

Descendants

• → Romanian: harpă
• → Turkish: arp

Etymology 2

Uncertain; likely deverbal from harper (“to seize; grasp violently”), of High German origin. Alternatively, borrowed from Occitan arpa (“claw, grasp”), from Latin harpe (“sickle, bird of prey”), and conflated with harper, producing a word-initial h-.

Noun

harpe f (plural harpes)

1. (hunting) A dog's claw
2. (slang, by extension) finger
3. (construction) Ellipsis of harpe de fer (“bent piece of iron used to mate corner posts of timber framing to a wall”).
4. (architecture, masonry) A stone left protruding from a wall at regular intervals so that it can be interlocked with a corresponding stone on another wall to form quoining.

   Synonym: pierre d'attente

5. (historical) A type of portcullis.

Derived terms

• jouer de la harpe (“to steal”)

Etymology 3

Verb

harpe

1. inflection of harper:
   1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
   2. second-person singular imperative

Further reading

• “harpe”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Anagrams

• phare

Latin

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ἅρπη (hárpē, “bird of prey, falcon, scimitar”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈhar.peː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈar.pe]

Noun

harpē f (genitive harpēs); first declension

1. a curved sickle-shaped sword, scimitar
2. bird of prey, hawk, falcon, tiercel or goshawk (falco gentilis)

Declension

First-declension noun (feminine, Greek-type, nominative singular in -ē).

	singular	plural
nominative	harpē	harpae
genitive	harpēs	harpārum
dative	harpae	harpīs
accusative	harpēn	harpās
ablative	harpē	harpīs
vocative	harpē	harpae

Descendants

• Catalan: arpa
• Italian: arpa
• Occitan: arpa
• Sicilian: arpa

References

• “harpe”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “harpe”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers

Middle Dutch

Etymology

From Old Dutch *harpa, from Proto-Germanic *harpǭ.

Noun

harpe f

1. harp, lyre

Inflection

Weak feminine noun

	singular	plural
nominative	harpe	harpen
accusative	harpe	harpen
genitive	harpe, harpen	harpen
dative	harpe, harpen	harpen

Descendants

• Dutch: harp

Further reading

• “harpe”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
• Verwijs, E.; Verdam, J. (1885–1929), “harpe”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN

Middle English

Alternative forms

• harp

Noun

harpe (plural harpes)

1. (music) harp

Descendants

• English: harp

Norman

Etymology

From Old French harpe, from Late Latin harpa, from Proto-Germanic *harpǭ.

Noun

harpe f (plural harpes)

1. (Jersey) harp

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Old Norse harpa, from Proto-Germanic *harpǭ. Compare with Danish harpe, Swedish and Icelandic harpa, German Harfe, Dutch and English harp.

Noun

harpe f or m (definite singular harpa or harpen, indefinite plural harper, definite plural harpene)

1. (music) a harp

Derived terms

• harpeleik

References

• “harpe” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Alternative forms

• hørpe (dialectal)

Etymology

From Old Norse harpa, from Proto-Germanic *harpǭ.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /hɑːrpe/

Noun

harpe f (definite singular harpa, indefinite plural harper, definite plural harpene)

1. (music) harp

Derived terms

• harpeleik
• munnharpe
• taglharpe

References

• “harpe” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Old French

Alternative forms

• arpe

Etymology

Inherited from Latin harpa, borrowed from Frankish *harpā, from Proto-Germanic *harpǭ.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈhaɾpə/

Noun

harpe oblique singular, f (oblique plural harpes, nominative singular harpe, nominative plural harpes)

1. (music) harp (stringed musical instrument)
2. (by extension, of an animal) The lower part of the breast, the outline of which appears in some animals like the curve of a harp.

Related terms

• harper
• harpere

Descendants

• Middle French: harpe
  • French: harpe
    • → Romanian: harpă
    • → Turkish: arp
• Norman: harpe (Jersiais)
• Picard: hârpe (Athois)
• Walloon: ârpe (Forrières)

Romanian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈhar.pe]

Noun

harpe f pl

1. plural of harpă

Walloon

Etymology

Borrowed from French harpe

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /haʀp/

Noun

harpe f (plural harpes)

1. (music) harp