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Origin and history of warp

warp(v.)

"to bend, twist, distort," c. 1400, a sense shift in Middle English werpen "hasten, rush toward; throw, fling, hurl;" from Old English weorpan "to throw, throw away, hit with a missile."

This is from Proto-Germanic *werpanan "to fling by turning the arm" (source also of Old Saxon werpan, Old Norse verpa "to throw," Swedish värpa "to lay eggs," Old Frisian werpa, Middle Low German and Dutch werpen, German werfen, Gothic wairpan "to throw").

The Germanic word is reconstructed to be from PIE *werp- "to turn, wind, bend," from root *wer- (2) "to turn, bend." The prehistoric connection between "turning" and "throwing" is perhaps rotating the arm in the act of throwing; compare Old Church Slavonic vrešti "to throw," from the same PIE root.

In English, the meaning "become crooked or bent" is by late 14c.; the transitive sense of "twist or bend (something) out of shape, give a cast to turn out of straightness or proper shape" is by c. 1400.

Hence the extended or figurative senses of "pervert, distort, turn from rectitude" (judgment, vision, etc.), attested by 1590s; in reference to accounts, facts, by 1717. Related: Warped; warping.

Also, via the old notion of "throw, hurl," the verb in Middle English could mean "expel, cast out; produce (crops); shed horns (of an animal); utter (words, a cry); take off clothing." As "lay a warp in preparation for weaving" it is attested by c. 1300, of a spider.

Nautical warping (1510s) is "working (a vessel) forward by means of a rope fastened to something fixed;" compare warp-rope (late 13c.).

also from c. 1400

warp(n.)

in weaving, "threads running lengthwise in a fabric," Old English wearp, from Proto-Germanic *warpo- (source also of Middle Low German warp, Old High German warf "warp," Old Norse varp "cast of a net"), from PIE *werp- "to turn, bend" (see warp (v.)). The warp of fabric is that across which the woof is "thrown."

As "a throw, cast," without reference to weaving, is suggested by early 15c. in nautical warping. As "the bending that occurs in wood in drying," by 1670s.

It was used in science fiction writing by 1936 in reference to the stuff of space-time or reality, probably from the weaving image. It was applied by 1947 in astrophysics to the "bending" of space-time (apparently via the drying wood sense). It was popularized in the noun phrase warp speed (for faster-than-light travel) by the 1960s U.S. TV series "Star Trek."

Entries linking to warp

cast(v.)

c. 1200, "throw, throw violently, fling, hurl," from a Scandinavian source akin to Old Norse kasta "to throw" (cognate with Swedish kasta, Danish kaste, North Frisian kastin), a word of uncertain origin.

The meaning "to form in a mold" is late 15c. In the sense of "to throw" it replaced Old English weorpan (see warp (v.)), and itself largely has been superseded by throw, though cast still is used of fishing lines (17c.) and glances (13c.).

From c. 1300 as "emit, give out;" also "throw to the ground;" also "shed or throw off;" also "calculate, find by reckoning; chart (a course)." From late 14c. as "to calculate astrologically." From late 15c. as "bring forth abortively or prematurely." From 1711 as "distribute the parts (of a play) among the actors." Of votes, from 1840, American English. To cast up is from 1530s as "compute, reckon" (accounts, etc.), late 15c. as "eject, vomit."

moldwarp(n.)

also mouldwarp, early 14c., moldewarp, "the mole," from Proto-Germanic *moldo-worpo(n)-, literally "earth-thrower," from to Old English molde "earth, soil" (see mold (n.3)) + weorpan "to throw" (see warp (v.)). Common Germanic, compare Old Saxon moldwerp, Dutch mulworp, Norwegian moldvarp, Danish muldvarp, Old High German multwurf, German Maulwurf (which has been influenced by Maul "mouth"). For many years it has been only a provincial word.