Etymology
1. c.1250,
wippen "flap violently," from P.Gmc.
*wipp- (cf. Dan.
vippe "to raise with a swipe," M.Du., Du.
wippen "to swing," O.H.G.
wipf "swing, impetus"), from PIE
*wib- "move quickly." The noun is attested from c.1325. In parliamentary use from 1850 (the v3rb in this sense is recorded from 1742), from the sense in fox-hunting. The parliamentary whip's duty originally was to ensure the attendance of party members on important occasions. The cookery sense is from 1673.
Whipping boy first recorded 1647;
whipping block is from c.1877.
Whip-saw is attested from 1538;
whip snake first recorded 1774.
2. From Middle English whippen, wippen (“to flap violently”), from Middle Dutch wippen (“to swing, leap, dance, oscillate”) and Middle Low German wippen (“to move quickly”), from Proto-Germanic *wippōną (“to move back and forth”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *weyp- (“to shake; to swing”). (See Swedish vippa and Danish vippe (“to shake”)).
3. The unetymological wh- is probably expressive of the sound of a whip; compare the same development in whisk and onomatopoeias such as whack and whoosh.
4. The political senses are from whipper-in (“huntsman who keeps the hounds from wandering”), from 18th-century hunting terminology.
Verbs referencing "whip"
Esperanto
vipi, Scots Gaelic
cuip, Sranan
wipi.