clepe

The story

1. Proto-Indo-European · inherited from*gal-“to sound”
2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*klipōną“to ring, sound”
3. Old English · inherited fromcleopian
4. Middle English · inherited fromclepen
5. English todayclepe

From Middle English clepen, clepien, from Old English cleopian, clipian (“to speak, cry out, call, summon, invoke, cry to, implore”), from Proto-Germanic *klipōną (“to ring, sound”), from Proto-Indo-European *gal- (“to sound”). Cognate with Old Frisian klippa, kleppa (“to ring”), Dutch kleppen (“to toll, chatter”), Middle Low German kleppen (“to strike, sound”), Middle Low German kleperen (“to rattle”).

Words from the same roots