You might guess that today's word is a descendant of the noun
carp,
referring to a type of fish. That's a reasonable speculation, but the
words are unrelated. Both entered the English language in the 15th
century but from different sources. Whereas the fish's name traces back
to Latin
carpa, the verb is of Scandinavian origin: it may be related to the Icelandic verb
karpa, meaning "to
dispute" or "to wrangle," and beyond that perhaps to Old Norse
karp, meaning "boasting" or "arrogance." There is a noun
carp that is related to the Scandinavian verb, however: it means "complaint," and it dates to that same century.
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