# Origin of Hep **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 27, 2004, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-hep/247391 "2004-05-27T18:28:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![stefani-esque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@stefani-esque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stefani-esque)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2004, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-hep/247391/1 "2004-05-27T18:28:47Z")
When flicking throuhg a French dictionary looking up something else, I came across **'hep** and its translation was **hey**. This makes me wonder the true origin of the ska term “hep hep hep”. Anyone know anything? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2004, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-hep/247391/2 "2004-05-27T19:26:07Z")
“Hep” as “in the know” is actually an old slang term – the OED has its first cite in 1908 (that’s not a typo). The origin is listed as “unknown,” though. It bears some resemblance to “hip,” also meaning “in the know,” which appeared a couple of years earlier. Hard to say which came first. “Hep Hep Hep” is even older – First cite in 1839 (with a second cite that dates it 20 years earlier). And very interestingly, it’s given as coming from the initials of a Latin phrase: _Hierosolyma Est Perdita_, which is a goatherd’s cry. That would make it one of the oldest words (if not the oldest) formed from initials, over a century before anything else I’m aware of. However, it was first used as a cry as people beat up Jews. :eek: Is there a connection with the ska term? Possibly. Probably from the “in the know” meaning; the antisemitism angle is known only to etymologists and historians.