Etymology
1. "tear apart," c.1477, probably of North Sea Gmc. origin (cf. Flem.
rippen "strip off roughly," Frisian
rippe "to tear, rip") or else from a Scand. source (cf. Swed.
reppa, Dan.
rippe "to tear, rip"). In either case, probably imitative of the sound of cloth ripping. Meaning "to move with slashing force" (1798) is the sense in
let her rip, Amer.Eng. colloquial phrase attested from 1853. The noun is attested from 1711;
rip cord (1909) originally was in ballooning. The verbal phrase
rip off "to steal or rob," is first recorded c.1967 in black slang, but
rip was prison slang for "to steal" since 1904, and was also used in this sense in 12c.
Rip-off (n.) is attested from 1970.
Jack the Ripper contains a pun on
ripper in sense of "tool for ripping" old slates, etc. (1793) and the slang meaning "a ripping fellow" (1838), from
ripping "excellent, splendid" (1826).
2. From Middle English rippen, from earlier ryppen (“to pluck”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *rupjaną, *ruppōną, intensive of *raupijaną, causative of Proto-Indo-European *roub- ~ *reub-, variant of *Hrewp- (“to break”).
3. See also West Frisian rippe, ripje, roppe, ropje (“to rip”), Dutch dialectal rippen, Low German ruppen, German Low German röpen, German rupfen, also Old English rīpan, rīepan (“to plunder”), West Frisian rippe (“to rip, tear”), German raufen (“to rip”); also Albanian rrabe ‘maquis’, possibly Latin rubus (“bramble”). More at reave, rob. See: Low Saxon 'ruppen', German, old spelling '
rupfen', German, old spelling '
raufen'.
Verbs referencing "rip"
Galician
ripar, German, old spelling
rupfen, Spanish
ripear, Finnish with old forms
ripata.