Middle English Dictionary Entry
soppen v.
Entry Info
| Forms | soppen v. Also soppe, sob & sape(n, sabbe(n. |
| Etymology | From OE soppian & ME sop(pe n.(1). |
Definitions (Senses and Subsenses)
1.
(a) To soak, lie in liquid so as to absorb it; ?also, make sops [cp. quot. a1500, 1st, in sop(pe n.(1) (a)]; (b) to soak (sth.), place in a liquid so that it can absorb said liquid, ?stew; ppl. sopped, soaked; ?also, broken up or made into sops; (c) ~ ful, glossing L imbuere; -- ? = soupen v.(1); (d) to modify (a liquid with absorbent or soluble additions); -- in ppl. sopped, spiced ; (e) to seep, percolate, or ooze through some permeable material.
Associated quotations
a
- a1425 *Medulla (Stnh A.1.10)45b/a : Offo: to soppe [Hrl 1738: soppyn].
- (?a1390) Daniel *Herbal (Add 27329)f. 25rb : Ageyn ake & peyne in hed of hete: let hem [berberis, rubus alba] lyn & soken & sapen [Arun 42 has only 'sokyn'] in water al a nigth. It mown be kept 7 ȝere.
b
- (?a1390) Daniel *Herbal (Add 27329)f. 143va : Galien seith þat of him & ginger togidre infuce (þat is wel saped & soked) in wyn, & pouder of agaric wel sabbed [L (Mesue, De simplicibus 2.3, 'De agarico'): in quo .. sepe submergatur] þerin, been mad trocis, his migth in werking is complete.
- (?a1390) Daniel *Herbal (Add 27329) f. 45ra : If þou haue not þe erbe [chamomile] grene, tak as þou may haue it, thou it be seer, & sape it in acet; than sethe it in oile & oynte wel þe hed þerwith.
- (?a1390) Daniel *Herbal (Add 27329)f. 62va : His [cinobacus, hound's berry] stalk wel saped [Arun 42: sokyd..& coct] in acet & ete is remedy ageyn inflacioun of the splene.
- (?a1390) Daniel *Herbal (Add 27329)f. 178rb : Citonius [i.e. quince] .. wel saped & soked in acet or wyn & clensed & ȝoue is migthi to þe stomac & wombe flux.
- (?a1390) Daniel *Herbal (Add 27329)f. 69rb : Tak marubium [i.e., horehound] & do it in wyn; & qwan it is wel macerat, saped & soked xv dayes (& let sethe in þe middis), than clense it & to þe clensyng put wax & pouder of cost & mak vp an oynement.
- a1425 *Medulla (Stnh A.1.10)45b/a : Offatus: sopped [Cnt adds: et particulatim comminutus].
c
- a1425 *Medulla (Stnh A.1.10)33b/b : Imbuo [Hrl 2257 adds: i. perfundere vel unciari, docere vel bibere extra mensuram]: to sob ful [Pep: to lard Within or to ffatt].
d
- (?a1390) Daniel *Herbal (Add 27329)f. 181vb : Wyn saped with herbes [glossing:] vinum herbatum.
e
- (?a1390) Daniel *Herbal (Add 27329)f. 71rb : And therfore we ley sawyng dust or elles askes about him [cucurbita siluestris, wild gourd] a fote or more fro him, & asslopen þe ground withoute þat dust or askes, þat water fallend on þe dust or askes sape [Arun 42 (f.73r): sabbe] not toward þe seed qwan he beginneth lawnchen.
Supplemental Materials (draft)
- (?a1390) Daniel *Herbal (Add 27329)f. 74vb : Diana [sc., violets, macerated, then] soked & saped [in sugar alone and then set in the sun in a clean glass vessel should loosen the womb, and also] slake threst.
Note: It is not clear exactly what is meant by 'soaking and sopping' flowers in sugar, unless the sugar itself is in liquid form, or unless embedding the flowers in sugar draws out their liquids. It is in any case another example of an evidently recurring collocation. For the combination with soken, compare the first example under OED sipe v., from Bald's Leechbook (Leechdoms, Wort-Cunning, and Starcraft of Early England, ed. O. Cockayne, 2:252): "Asete þonne on hate sunnan,..þæt hit sipige & socige .iiii. dagas oþþe ma." For this form in -i- and for sense (e), cp. ?sipen v. = OED sipe v.
Supplemental Materials (draft)
Note: Sense (e) may represent a different word; in any case it appears to share its meaning with a cluster of similar words that developed in early modern English, including 'sipe' and 'seep'.