v1.0
Publishing history:
v1.0: 21/07/25
crap vb [kʰɾaʰp] ‘to shrink; crush’, vn crapadh [ˈkʰɾaʰpəɣ], also crup [kʰɾuʰp], vn crupadh [ˈkʰɾuʰpəɣ]. Marstrander (1915a, 138–39) derives EG crap (with voiceless p) ‘cramp; act of cramping, contracting’ (along with its derivatives crapach ‘shrunk, shrivelled’, crapaiḋ ‘contracts, shrivels, shrinks, bends’ and crapaḋ ‘act of cramping, shrivelling, contracting’) from ON *krapp, based on the verb *kreppa (past tense *krapp, past participle kroppinn), cf. Nn. kreppe (past tense krapp, past participle kroppe/-i (Haugen 1984)) ‘to shrink, shrivel’ and Scots croppen
So SG cropan ‘deformed person’, s.v.
Apart from its past participle kroppinn, the Old Norse strong verb *kreppa is only attested in Old Norse as the weak verb kreppa ‘to squeeze together, press; bend, tie together; press (someone) hard’ (NO, cf. Ice. kreppa ‘to clench, pinch, press hard on one’ (Cleasby 1874)). Schulze-Thulin (1996, 106) takes the etymon for EG crap etc. to be ON krappr adj. ‘narrow, confined, restricted’. McDonald (2009, 377) associates EG crap with EG crapall, s.v. creapall.
Irish and Scottish Gaelic crap-, creap- and crup- forms
| In Irish, cf. | crap- | creap- | crup- |
| Lhuyd 1707 | crapadh ‘to shrink’ craptha ‘wrapped’ | creapadh ‘contraction’ | |
| O’Brien 1768 | crapadh ‘contraction; to shrink, contract, crush’ craptha ‘wrapped, contracted’ | creapadh ‘contraction’ | |
| O’Reilly 1817 | crapadh ‘contraction, shrinking; crushing’ crapaim ‘I contract, shrink, crush’ crapaire ‘one that crusheth’ crapara ‘strong’ craptha ‘warped’ | creapadh ‘contraction; bending, crooking’ creapaim ‘I bend, crook’ | crupog ‘wrinkle’ |
| Quiggin 1906, 26 §60: Meenawannia, Donegal | crapadh [kro̤puw] ‘to shrink’ | ||
| Dinneen 1927 | cra(i)p- (in compounds) ‘shrivelled, crippled, gathered up’ crapadh ‘act of contracting, shrinking up, crippling, crinkling, stunting etc.’ crapadóir ‘cripple’ crapaim ‘I cramp, fetter, wind tightly; crinkle, shrink up, contract etc.’ crapaire ‘one who crushes etc.’ crapanach ‘curled; rough, uneven; shrunk etc.’ craptha ‘warped etc.’ |
crupach ‘stiff, contracted, crinkled, shrunken’ crúpach [sic] ‘awkward person; clown’ crupadóir ‘linen lapper’ crupaim ‘I contract etc.’ crupais ‘a disease in cattle similar to crupán’ crupán ‘a shrinking; a disease in cattle’ crupóg ‘crinkle, wrinkle; lap in cloth’ cruptha ‘shrivelled etc.’ | |
| Ó Dónaill 1977 | crap ‘to contract, shrink; draw in or up’ crapadh ‘contraction; shrinkage’ | crup = crap crupadh = crapadh | |
| Lúcás 1986: Rosguill, Donegal | crupaí ‘crippled (with rheumatism)’ | ||
| Uí Bheirn 1989: Teileann, Donegal | crupann ‘shortens’ | ||
| Ó Curnáin 2007 IV, 2445; Co. Galway | crap ‘to draw in or up’ |
| In Scottish Gaelic, cf. | |||
| Shaw 1780 | crapadh ‘shrinking, crushing; contraction’ crapara ‘one that crushes; a strong b’ craptha ‘warped’ | crupam ‘to contract’ | |
| Mac Farlan 1795 | crapadh ‘striking’ c | crupag ‘wrinkle’ | |
| MacFarlane 1815 | crup ‘to contract, shrink’ crupadh ‘shrinking’ | ||
| Armstrong 1825 | crapadh ‘shrinking, crushing, contracting’ craparra ‘strong, stout, lusty’ | crup ‘contraction; wrinkle’ d crup ‘to contract, shrink, shrivel’ crupach ‘contractive, shrinking, shrivelling’ crupadh ‘contracting, shrinking, shriveling; contraction, shrivel’ crupag ‘wrinkle; fold, plait’ crupagach ‘wrinkled; plaited; causing wrinkles; like a wrinkle’ | |
| HSS 1828 | crap ‘to crush’ crapta ‘crushed’ | crup ‘to crouch, bend; contract, shrink’ crupadh ‘crouching, bending, shrinking, contracting’ crupag ‘wrinkle’ | |
| McAlpine 1832 | crup ‘to contract, shrink’ crupadh ‘contraction; contracting’ | ||
| MacEachen 1842 | crup ‘to crouch, squat, bend’ crupte ‘crouched etc.’ crupadh ‘crouching etc.’ | ||
| Dwelly 1911 | crap ‘to crush’ e | ||
| Faclan bhon t-Sluagh˄ | crap ‘to shrink, withdraw’ | crup ‘[to] ?squat’ |
Notes: (a) I.e. crapaire; (b) I.e. craparra; (c) ?Leg. ‘shrinking’; (d) SG crup (Armstrong 1825) in the sense ‘the croup, laryngotracheobronchitis’ is likely to be from Scots croup; contrast SG crùp (e.g. AFB˄) from Eng. croup; cf. SG crupadh (Armstrong) ~ crùpadh (AFB˄) with the same meaning; (e) Citing HSS 1828.
EG crap may instead go back to northern MEng. crepe ‘to creep’ in the senses ‘to shrink, contract’, cf. MScots crepe in the senses ‘to shrink, contract’ (DOST˄, s.v., 2.b.), Scots creep in the senses ‘to shrink, shrivel or bend with age; to grow smaller, shrink’ (SND˄, II.1.) and Ulster-Scots creep in the sense ‘to shrink in the wash’ (Macafee 1996), with the variation crap- ~ creap- ~ crup- accounted for by some of the inflected forms in the donor language(s): cf. northern Eng. (past tense, e.g.) crap, crep, crop, crup (EDDo˄); MScots (past tense, e.g.) crap, crop, (past participle, e.g.) croppen, cruppin, crouppen; and Scots (past tense, e.g.) crap [krap], [krɛp], (past participle) croppen [′krɔp(ə)n], crup(p)en, cruppin [′krʌp(ə)n] (SND˄).
Marstrander (1915a, 40, 128–29) takes Ir. and SG crup- forms to be connected with Norw. dial. krupp ‘crooked tree’ and kruppen, kroppen ‘shrunk’ (< ON kroppinn), rather than variants of crap-. MacBain (1911, s.v. crup) opines that SG crup is founded on the Middle English variant crup(p)el ‘cripple’, with which he associates Scots cruppen, but which is a form of the past participle of Scots creep.
Note that Ir. crup, SG. crup are semantically similar to, but etymologically distinct from, Ir. crúb, SG crùb, s.v. crùb, pace McDonald (2009, 377).
Cf. Mx crapley vn ‘wrinkling, corrugating, contracting; wrinkle, contraction’,
Cf. Mx crapley ‘to wrinkle, corrugate’ (Y Kelly 1866), crapley ‘contract, knitting [?leg. knit], wrinkle; pucker; contraction, corrugation’ (Kelly 1991˄).