Etymograph

English

cup

Cup comes from Middle English cuppe.

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500cuppe1
  2. Englishearliest quotation c. 1606–1607cup1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English cup
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1606–1607, William Shakespeare, The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra: “Cup us, till the world go round.”.

Lineage

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500cuppeWiktionary, English cup
  2. Englishearliest quotation c. 1606–1607cupWiktionary, English cup. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1606–1607, William Shakespeare, The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra: “Cup us, till the world go round.”

The story

Old English cuppe is a borrowing from Late Latin cuppa, itself of obscure origin, but probably from earlier Latin cūpa (‘tub, cask’), from Proto-Indo-European *kewp- (‘a hollow’).uncertain The source flags this step as uncertain. Old English copp, however, is from Proto-West Germanic *kopp (‘round object, bowl, vessel, knoll, summit, crown of the head’), from Proto-Germanic *kuppaz, from Proto-Indo-European *gew- (‘to bend, curve, arch’) (whence also obsolete English cop (‘top, summit, crown of the head’), German Kopf (‘top, head’)). The Middle English word was further reinforced by Anglo-Norman cupe and Old French cope, coupe, from Latin cuppa.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

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Today it means

noun A concave vessel for drinking, usually made of opaque material (as opposed to a glass) and with a handle.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “cup”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Middle English cuppe / cup