Etymology
1. 1362 (implied in
draper), from O.Fr.
draper, from
drap "cloth," from L.L.
drapus, of Gaulish origin (cf. O.Ir.
drapih "mantle, garment"). Jive talk slang for "suit of clothes" is attested from 1945. The v. originally meant "to weave cloth;" modern sense of "to cover with drapery" is first attested 1847.
Drapery in the sense of "stuff with which anything is draped" is from 1686.
2. From Middle English drape (“a drape”, noun), from Old French draper (“to drape; to full cloth”), from drap (“cloth, drabcloth”), from Late Latin drappus, drapus (“drabcloth, kerchief”), a word first recorded in the Capitularies of Charlemagne, probably from Frankish *drapi, *drāpi (“that which is fulled, drabcloth”, literally “that which is struck or for striking”), from Proto-Germanic *drapiz (“a strike, hit, blow”) and Proto-Germanic *drēpiz (“intended for striking, to be beaten”), both from *drepaną (“to beat, strike”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰreb- (“to beat, crush, make or become thick”). Cognate with English drub (“to beat”), North Frisian dreep (“a blow”), Low German drapen, dräpen (“to strike”), German treffen (“to meet”), Swedish dräpa (“to slay”). More at drub. See: English '
drub', Low Saxon 'drapen', German, old spelling '
treffen', Swedish '
dräpa'.