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Origin and history of perhaps

perhaps(adv.)

"possibly," late 15c., perhappes, with adverbial genitive, from earlier perhap (mid-14c.), from per, par "by, through" (see per) + plural of hap "chance" (see happen), on model of peradventure, perchance, etc. which now have been superseded by this word. Perhappons "possibly, by chance" is recorded from late 15c.

also from late 15c.

Entries linking to perhaps

happen(v.)

late 14c., happenen, "to come to pass, occur, come about, be the case," literally "occur by hap, have the (good or bad) fortune (to do, be, etc.);" extension (with verb-formative -n) of the more common hap (v.). Old English used gelimpan, gesceon, and Middle English also had befall. In Middle English fel it hap meant "it happened." Related: Happened; happening. Phrase happens to be as an assertive way to say "is" is from 1707.

per(prep.)

"through, by means of," 1580s (earlier in various Latin and French phrases, in the latter often par), from Latin per "through, during, by means of, on account of, as in," from PIE root *per- (1) "forward," hence "through, in front of, before, first, chief, toward, near, around, against."

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Trends of perhaps

adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

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fritter
waste bit by bit, spend on trifles," 1728, probably from noun fritter "fragment or shred" (though this is recorded later), perhaps...an alteration of 16c. fitters "fragments or pieces," which is perhaps ultimately from Old French fraiture "a breaking,"...Or perhaps from a Germanic *fet-source (compare Middle High German vetze "clothes, rags," Old English fetel "girdle")....
smirch
late 15c., smorchen, "to discolor, to make dirty" (also compare bismorched, mid-15c.), a word of uncertain origin, perhaps...(OED) from Old French esmorcher "to torture," which is perhaps also "befoul, stain," from es- "out" (see ex-) + morcher...The sense perhaps was influenced by smear. The figurative meaning "dishonor, disgrace, discredit" is attested from 1820....
hurry
1590s, transitive and intransitive, first recorded in Shakespeare, who used it often; perhaps a variant of harry (v.), or...perhaps a West Midlands sense of Middle English hurren "to vibrate rapidly, buzz" (of insects), from Proto-Germanic *hurza...haste" (source also of Middle High German hurren "to whir, move fast," Old Swedish hurra "to whirl round"), which also perhaps...
ramble
mid-15c., ramblen, "to wander, roam about in a leisurely manner," perhaps frequentative of romen "to walk, go" (see roam)..., perhaps via romblen (late 14c.)...The vowel change is perhaps by influence of Middle Dutch rammelen, a derivative of rammen "copulate," "used of the night...
gull
Perhaps from verb meaning "to dupe, cheat" (see gull (v.))....Or it is perhaps from (or influenced by) the bird name (see gull (n.1)); in either case with a sense of "someone who will...Another possibility is Middle English gull, goll "newly hatched bird" (late 14c.), which is perhaps from Old Norse golr "...
pet
Perhaps from pet (n.1) on a similar notion to that in American English that gets my goat (for which see goat), but the underlying...Perhaps from the notion of "characteristic of an indulged or spoiled child," but OED notes that this word seems to have been...Perhaps influenced by unrelated petulant....
Italy
Perhaps an alteration of Oscan Viteliu "Italy," but meaning originally only the southwestern point of the peninsula....Traditionally said to be from Vitali, name of a tribe that settled in Calabria, whose name is perhaps somehow connected with...Or perhaps the country name is directly from vitulus as "land of cattle," or it might be from an Illyrian word, or an ancient...
par
1620s, "equality in value or circumstances," also "value of one currency in terms of another," from Latin par "equal, equal-sized, well-matched," also as a noun, "that which is equal, equality," a word of unknown and disputed origin. De Vaan is noncommittal. Watkins suggests perh
hap
c. 1200, "chance, a person's luck, fortune, fate;" also "unforeseen occurrence," from Old Norse happ "chance, good luck," from Proto-Germanic *hap- (source of Old English gehæp "convenient, fit"), from PIE *kob- "to suit, fit, succeed" (source also of Sanskrit kob "good omen; con
architect
"person skilled in the art of building, one who plans and designs buildings and supervises their construction," 1560s, from French architecte, from Latin architectus, from Greek arkhitekton "master builder, director of works," from arkhi- "chief" (see archon) + tekton "builder, c

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