Harpere

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A musician who plays the harp, the stringed instrument held upright and plucked with the fingers
2. Someone who performs music on a harp, an archaic term for a minstrel who accompanied song with that instrument
3. An old word for a player of the harp, a person skilled at plucking the strings of that triangular instrument

Etymology: Harper is an Old English word, "hearpere," built from "hearpe" (harp) and the agent suffix "-ere," so it literally means "one who plays the harp." The suffix is the same one found in "baker" and "singer," which is why the word looks so transparent. Its form has changed little since the Old English period; the main shift was the loss of the "e" in the middle of the word, and by the late Middle English period the spelling had settled into the familiar "harper." The word has long outlasted the instrument's place in English life. Harpers were once a recognised profession, entertaining at royal and noble courts and passing on epic poetry and song. Surnames built on the word, such as Harper and Harpur, were common across Britain and Ireland, recording ancestors who made their living this way.

Synonyms: harpist, minstrel, bard