Hap

Example of a Pennsylvanian hap. Example of a Pennsylvanian hap.

Hap is an American word, used especially in Pennsylvania, of Scottish/Northern English origin for a thick padded quilt. The word is common in those areas where Scottish and Northern English settlers lived in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. They named the Pennsylvania counties of Cumberland, Westmoreland and Northumberland after northern English counties.

Source: CROZIER, Alan (1984). 'The Scotch-Irish influence on American English', American Speech, vol. 59, no. 4, pp. 323-324.

Digital source of illustration (retrieved 30 June 2016).

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Last modified on Tuesday, 24 January 2017 17:05
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