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 cop etymology of




From: Bruce.Tindall@launchpad.unc.edu (Bruce Tindall)
Subject: Re: etymology of cop
Date: Fri, 23 Apr 1993 00:48:44 GMT

Praise Onions! Here is the OED's take on "cop" for "policeperson".

It offers no etymology other than "cf. [compare] cop v. 3 and copper 4". The first of these, the verb "to cop", means to catch or nab. The second, the noun "copper", meaning "policeman", is "apparently from cop v. 3, but other conjectures have been offered."

But nothing like the acronym that started this thread.

Bruce "magnificat" Tindall

From: Bruce.Tindall@launchpad.unc.edu (Bruce Tindall)
Subject: Re: etymology of cop
Date: Fri, 23 Apr 1993 00:52:11 GMT

Oops, forgot to finish up the loose ends: OED says the noun "cop" = "policeman" should be compared with verb "to cop" meaning "to nab, capture, etc." The etymology of the latter is "perhaps" from Old French caper, "to seize", which entered English as "to cap" but may have been pronounced by northern English people as "cop".

Bruce "I wish I were as certain of anything as the OED is of nothing" Tindall


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