dapper

The story

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*dʰeb-
2. Proto-Germanic · derived from*dapraz“stout; solid; heavy; bold”
3. Old Dutch · derived from*dapar
4. Middle Dutch · derived fromdapper“stalwart, nimble”
5. Middle English · inherited fromdaper“pretty, neat”
6. English todaydapper

From Middle English daper (“pretty, neat”), from Middle Dutch dapper (“stalwart, nimble”), Old Dutch *dapar, from Proto-Germanic *dapraz (“stout; solid; heavy; bold”) (compare German tapfer "bold", Norwegian daper "saddened, dreary"), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeb- ‘thick, heavy’ (compare Tocharian A tpär ‘high’, Latvian dàbls ‘strong’, Serbo-Croatian дебео (dèbeo) ‘fat’).