The origin of cop...

[smellincoffee]

I read once that “cop” stood for constable on patrol.

[Exapno_Mapcase]

This is a common misconception, but has nothing at all to back it up.

A good short piece on the origin of cop comes from The Word Detective:

Dear Word Detective: I am interested in the origin of the word “cop” which we use for police officers. My thinking is that it must go back to England in the 1800’s, when the Bobbies wore copper badges, but I cannot prove it. – Mark Freund, via the internet.

Well, that’s probably because it isn’t true, as far as anyone has been able to establish. “Cop” is one of those common but mysterious words that have spawned a whole raft of elaborate theories as to their origin, none of which is backed up by any convincing evidence.

The most commonly-heard theories trace “cop” (or “copper”) meaning “police officer” to copper buttons worn on early police uniforms, or to copper police badges supposedly issued in some cities, but there is no real evidence for any of this. Still other theories explain “cop” as an acronym, standing for “Constable On Patrol,” “Chief of Police” or other such phrases. But these “acronym” theories bear all the hallmarks of being spurious after-the-fact stories invented to explain “cop.” Among other sticky details is the fact that acronyms were virtually unknown in English before the 20th century, while “cop” itself was well-established by the mid-19th century.

The secret of “cop” probably lies in the fact that before it was a noun it was a verb. The verb “to cop,” meaning “to capture” or “lay hold of” first appeared in English around 1704, later coming to mean “to take” or “to steal,” a sense that is still in use today (as in “cop a plea”). This “cop” may have come from the Dutch “capen” (to steal) or from the Scottish “cap,” both ultimately from the Latin word “capere,” meaning “to seize,” which also gave us “capture.” “Cop” as a slang term meaning “to catch, snatch or grab” originally was used among thieves, and a “copper” was a street thief. But sometime in the early 19th century, irony kicked in the door, and criminals apprehended by the police were said to have themselves been “copped” – caught – by the “coppers” or “cops.”

[C_K_Dexter_Haven]

Welcome to the Straight Dope Message Board, smellincoffee, we’re glad to have you with us.

When you start a thread, it’s helpful to other readers if you provide a link to the Staff Report upon which you are commenting. In this case, Straight Dope Staff Report: Why are the police called cops, pigs, or the fuzz?

Expano has provided info on why “constable on patrol” is highly improbable, and just a cute coincidence. I also addressed it in the Staff Report:

As with many words, there are several stories floating around positing various origins, almost certainly false. The notion that cop is an acronym for “Constable On Patrol” is nonsense. Similarly, the word did not arise because police uniforms in New York (or London or wherever) had copper buttons, copper badges, or anything of the sort.

[Northern_Piper]

We had a discussion over in Cafe Society on a related issue a few weeks ago, the meaning of the phrase, “it’s a fair cop” in British slang: Monty Python question: “It’s a fair…”.

I posted the following on the common law of arrest, which helps to explain why “cop” became slang for a person who arrests another:

@Northern Piper

@Not A Tame Lion

I’ve watched a lot of Python, and there’s one line that comes up frequently that always leaves me a little baffled. It’s the one that goes, “It’s a fair ( ), but I blame society.” It sounds to me like “it’s a fair COP” but I’m not sure that’s the right word. I feel like the accent is getting the better of me.

I get the gist of the line and its humor, but I’ve never been certain what exactly “it’s a fair cop” (if that is the right word) means, or how it is derived. Can any limeys out there give me some insight? This has bugged me for a long time.

Thanks in advance.

you’ve got it right - “cop” is rather oldish slang for arrest. A “fair cop” is one where the arrested person admits that there was a reason for the arrest.

The phrase reflects the common law of arrest. At common law, an arrest wasn’t complete until the peace officer physically took hold of the miscreant. For example, in R. v. Asante-Mensah the Supreme Court of Canada adopted this definition of when an arrest is valid, based on the common law:

Arrest consists of the actual seizure or touching of a person’s body with a view to his detention. The mere pronouncing of words of arrest is not an arrest, unless the person sought to be arrested submits to the process and goes with the arresting officer. (underlining mine)

So the peace officer has to physically take the accused into custody for a valid arrest, but if the accused submits to the arrest, the physical touching is not necessary, and the arrest is valid at law. So the accused’s submission, such as a statement that he accepts that he’s under arrest, can be a substitute for the physical contact required by law - it’s a fair arrest.

So why “cop”? It’s because “cop” is slang for grabbing something. Roget’s gives this set of synonyms:

1. Slang. To obtain possession or control of: capture, gain, get, take, win.

A peace officer can be said to have “copped” someone when they arrest them by physical contact, as required by the common law, so by extension, an arrest can be said to be a “cop”. (Note that this is the same slang term in the adolescent phrase, “copped a feel”).

Take the fact that an arrestee can admit that the arrest is valid by submitting to it, add the slang usage for “cop”, and you’ve got the phrase, “it’s a fair cop.”

Whether the phrase was actually used very much, I don’t know. It sounds to me like the sort of thing Rumpole would expect to hear his better class of old-fashinoned career criminals say, not the young smash-and-grab types.

[Wendell_Wagner]

Apparently, the following cannot be said enough: Any etymology for a word that’s more than 100 years old that claims it comes from an acronym is wrong. With only a couple of exceptions, there are no acronyms which originated before 1910.

[Cervaise]

@Wendell Wagner

With only a couple of exceptions, there are no acronyms which originated before 1910.

The exception that’s true but that nobody believes is “O.K.”

(Which is an abbreviation, not an acronym, strictly speaking, but it’s still enough of an aberration given the rule of thumb that it warrants mentioning, I think.)

[John_W.Kennedy]

@Wendell Wagner

With only a couple of exceptions, there are no acronyms which originated before 1910.

In English. Other languages (especially Hebrew) are loaded with them.

[Wendell_Wagner]

John W. Kennedy writes:

> Other languages (especially Hebrew) are loaded with them.

Can you give us some examples? Tell us how the word originated and when. I’ve never heard about this.

O.K. is an initialism, not an acronym, but, yes, even initialisms were rare before 1910.

[C_K_Dexter_Haven]

As an example of Hebrew, the Hebrew bible is made up of three sections: Pentateuch (Torah in Hebrew), Prophets (Neve-im in Hebrew), and Writings (K’suvim in Hebrew) and the entire bible has been called TaNaKh (an acronym) for well over a thousand years.

[Wendell_Wagner]

Some more examples in Hebrew, and some examples in other languages, please?

[Pleonast]

@Wendell Wagner

O.K. is an initialism, not an acronym, but, yes, even initialisms were rare before 1910.

What’s the difference between an initialism (I’ve never heard that term before) and an acronym? And, if you’re feeling generous, the difference of those from abbreviations?

[Cervaise]

An acronym spells a word. Frex: self-contained underwater breathing apparatus = SCUBA, which people pronounce “skooba” instead of spelling out “S-C-U-B-A.” Random access memory = “RAM,” said as a word, “ram.” Light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation = “LASER.”

Contrast, say, “automated teller machine,” for which people use the letters, “A-T-M,” instead of saying “attim” or something.

[Exapno_Mapcase]

In common usage, however, acronym covers all cases. I consider making the distinction between initialism and acronym pedanticism of the highest order unless you are in a formal discussion of the language. This thread doesn’t qualify under my definition.

[Wendell_Wagner]

Exapno Mapcase writes:

> In common usage, however, acronym covers all cases. I consider making the
> distinction between initialism and acronym pedanticism of the highest order
> unless you are in a formal discussion of the language. This thread doesn’t
> qualify under my definition.

It’s a distinction that’s been made frequently in SDMB threads. Threads that discuss supposed etymologies for words that involve acronyms are very common on this board. I’d say that there have been at least a couple dozen of them over the history of the SDMB. Many of those threads have someone making the distinction between acronyms and initialisms. I have never been the one to bring up that distinction before, but I have once or twice gotten the withering scorn of other posters when I failed to make that distinction.

On the other hand, never in any of those older threads has anyone claimed that the rule “No acronym etymologies before 1910” only applied to English. I have never heard on the SDMB or anywhere else about these non-English pre-1910 acronym etymologies, and I would like to know some more of them. Could someone please give us some more examples of them?

[Cervaise]

@Exapno Mapcase

pedanticism of the highest order

Number Four on the Top Ten list of alternate SDMB mission statements.

[Antinor01]

You might have a better chance with opening a thread asking that question over in GQ. I know some of the linguists on our boards check those threads. --this is in regard to the pre 1910 acronyms in non-english languages question.

[Stentor_2.5]

FWIW, even today one might cop a feel or cop a glance, in both cases meaning to take quickly.

[Exapno_Mapcase]

@Wendell Wagner

Exapno Mapcase writes:

> In common usage, however, acronym covers all cases. I consider making the
> distinction between initialism and acronym pedanticism of the highest order
> unless you are in a formal discussion of the language. This thread doesn’t
> qualify under my definition.

It’s a distinction that’s been made frequently in SDMB threads.

Yeah, and it’s always burned me. I finally had to say something.

I have never been the one to bring up that distinction before, but I have once or twice gotten the withering scorn of other posters when I failed to make that distinction.

Next time tell them it’s utter nonsense, up with which you will not put.

[dhunter1]

I always heard that police back in the day were reffered to as coppers by some people because of the large copper buttons on their jackets. This slang term was then shortened to “cop”.

[samclem]

@dhunter1

I always heard that police back in the day were reffered to as coppers by some people because of the large copper buttons on their jackets. This slang term was then shortened to “cop”.

That one is also not true.