etymology - Why does "going to kip" mean "going to sleep"?


"Night, folks; I'm off to kip."



noun
1British a sleep or nap:
      I might have a little kip
[mass noun] :
      he was trying to get some kip


verb (kips, kipping, kipped)
[no object] British
    sleep:
         he can kip on her sofa



Oxford Dictionaries has it as:



mid 18th century (in the sense 'brothel'): perhaps related to Danish kippe 'hovel, tavern'



Any further etymological info?



Answer



There is some more detail on World Wide Words.


The Irish usage as brothel is first recorded in Oliver Goldsmith’s The Vicar of Wakefield:



... to assist at tattering a kip as the phrase was, when we had a mind for a frolic.



The phrase tattering a kip meaning "wrecking a brothel".


The word then came to be used for lodging-houses and finally to refer to the act of sleeping itself.


In Partridge's Dictionary of Common Slang there's also mention of Danish kippe and a possible link to Romany kipsi 'a basket' and kitchema 'an inn' and a possible nautical origin of kip meaning 'hammock'. However, unfortunately I cannot reproduce the complete entry here.


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