The weary travelers decided to ____ on some soup before continuing their journey.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
In the evening, the family would gather around the wooden table to ____ on a simple meal of soup and bread.
Word Origin & History
Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *sew-?
Proto-Indo-European *sewH-
Proto-Indo-European *peh₃-
Proto-Indo-European *su(H)ph₃néh₂-der.?
Proto-Germanic *suppōną
Proto-Germanic *sūpaną
Proto-West Germanic *sūpan
Old English sūpan
Middle English soupen
English sup
The verb is from Middle English soupen, from Old English sūpan (“to sip, drink, taste”), from Proto-Germanic *sūpaną (compare Dutch zuipen (“to drink, tipple, booze”), German saufen (“to drink, booze”), Swedish supa (“to drink, swallow”)), from Proto-Indo-European *sub-, compare Sanskrit सूप (sū́pa, “soup, broth”), from *sewe (“to take liquid”). More at suck.
The noun is from the verb. There is no evidence of continuity with Old English supa. Compare Middle English soupe, from Old English sūpe, which has the same meaning as Middle English sope (“a mouthful or small amount of drink”), from Old English sopa, whence sop.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"There I'll sup / Balm and nectar in my cup."
— 1646, Richard Crashaw, Steps to the Temple:
"We stood upon the forehead of the hills, / And lifted up our hearts in prayer; / And as we halted, reverent, / Meseemed that Nature o’er us bent, / That she did bid us sup / From bread she gave and from her cup."
— 1893, Norman Gale, “A Walk”, in Orchard Songs, London: [Charles] Elkin Mathews & John Lane; New York, N.Y.: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, →OCLC, page 43:
"And as she supped her tea she smiled discreetly at him over the brim."
— 1913, Norman Lindsay, A Curate in Bohemia, Sydney: N.S.W. Bookstall Co., published 1932, page 80:
"On market days the farmers would come in before going home - Tysons and Lindsays and Birketts and Longmires and Boows and Dawsons - and their dogs would lie in heaps on the flags while they themselves supped Gerald's ale."
— 1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 60:
"Not a sup will I swallow, nor a bit will I bite, till Burd Ellen is set free."
— 1890, Joseph Jacobs, “Childe Rowland”, in English Fairy Tales, page 123: