forcippian (Old English)

Where does "forcippian" come from?

The Old English verb 'forcippian', meaning 'to cut off'[1], was formed by combining the prefix 'for-' with the reconstructed verb '*ċippian', meaning 'to cut or chop'[1]. This base is tied to the Proto-Germanic '*kipp-' meaning 'to cut, carve, hack, or chop', which possibly descends from the Proto-Indo-European root '*ǵeyb-' meaning 'to split, divide, germinate, or sprout'[2].

Open questions

• The ultimate connection of the base to the Proto-Indo-European root '*ǵeyb-' is marked as a possibility rather than a certainty. [2]
• The Old English form '*ċippian' is a reconstructed word form rather than directly attested. [1]

Full etymology tree

• forcippian (Old English), 'to cut off'
  • prefix for- (Old English), 'very'
  • derived *cippian (Old English), 'to cut, trim; cut up, chop; chip'
    • inherited *kippōn (Proto-West Germanic), 'to chop, break'
      • inherited *kipp- (Proto-Germanic)
        • derived *ǵeyb- (Proto-Indo-European)

Ancestors

• for (Old English)

Cognates and doublets

• cipp (Old English)

Sources

1. forcippian (Old English) - Wiktionary
2. cippian (Old English) - Wiktionary

Updated August 2026

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Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris