- weep (v.)
- Old English wepan "shed tears, cry" (class VII strong verb; past tense weop, past participle wopen), from Proto-Germanic *wopjan (cf. Old Norse op, Old High German wuof "shout, shouting, crying," Old Saxon wopian, Gothic wopjan "to shout, cry out, weep"), from PIE *wab- "to cry, scream" (cf. Latin vapulare "to be flogged;" Old Church Slavonic vupiti "to call," vypu "gull"). Weeping willow (cf. French saule pleureur, German trauerweide) is recorded from 1731. The tree is native to Asia; the first brought to England were imported 1748, from the Euphrates. Replaced cypress as a funerary emblem.