Etymology
1. O.E.
apa, from P.Gmc.
*apan (cf. O.S.
apo, O.N.
api, Du.
aap, Ger.
affe), perhaps borrowed in P.Gmc. from Celtic (cf. O.Ir.
apa) or Slavic (cf. O.Bohemian
op, Slovak
opitza), probably ult. from a non-I.E. language. The verb "to imitate" (1632) is implied in
to play the ape (1579), and the noun sense of "one who mimics" may date from c.1230.
Ape-man, hypothetical "missing link," is from 1879, in a translation of Haeckel. To
go ape (in emphatic form,
go apeshit) "go crazy" is 1955, U.S. slang. To
lead apes in hell (1579) was the fancied fate of one who died an old maid.
2. From Middle English ape, from Old English apa (“ape, monkey”), from Proto-West Germanic *apō, from Proto-Germanic *apô (“monkey, ape”), possibly derived from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ep- (“water”), compare Proto-Celtic *abū (“river”) (hence English place name Avon, Irish abha, Welsh afon), if the word originally referred to a "water sprite".
3. Traditionally assumed to be an ancient loanword instead, ultimately probably from an unidentified non-Indo-European language of regions in Africa or Asia where monkeys are native.
4. Cognate with Scots aip (“ape”), West Frisian aap (“ape”), Dutch aap (“monkey, ape”), Low German Ape (“ape”), German Affe (“monkey, ape”), Swedish apa (“monkey, ape”), Icelandic api (“ape”). See: Swedish '
apa'.
Verbs referencing "ape"
Dutch
na-apen.