harpe

A triangular musical instrument played by plucking strings with the fingers; a harp.; Any member of the sea snail mollusc family Harpidae; a harp snail.; Ellipsis of harpe de David (“David's harp; metaphorical, poetic inspiration; a calming force”).

Inherited from Middle French harpe, from Old French harpe, arpe, from Late Latin harpa, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *harpǭ. Cognate with Occitan arpa, Italian arpa, Spanish arpa, Portuguese harpa, etc.

A dog's claw; finger; Ellipsis of harpe de fer (“bent piece of iron used to mate corner posts of timber framing to a wall”).; A stone left protruding from a wall at regular intervals so that it can be interlocked with a corresponding stone on another wall to form quoining.; A type of portcullis.

Uncertain; likely deverbal from harper (“to seize; grasp violently”), of High German origin. Alternatively, borrowed from Occitan arpa (“claw, grasp”), from Latin harpe (“sickle, bird of prey”), and conflated with harper, producing a word-initial h-.