In a Word: The Luck of the Hapless

People who are unfortunate can be called ‘hapless,’ and though lucky folks aren’t called ‘hapful,’ there is a lot more ‘hap’ in your life than you perhaps realize.

A derelict car with wheels off.
Everett Collection / Shutterstock

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Managing editor and logophile Andy Hollandbeck reveals the sometimes surprising roots of common English words and phrases. Remember: Etymology tells us where a word comes from, but not what it means today.

In 1967’s “Born Under a Bad Sign,” Albert King sang, “If it wasn’t for bad luck, you know I wouldn’t have no luck at all.” We can all empathize with the sentiment today, but for speakers of Middle English, it was more literal: They really had no luck at all.

That is, they didn’t have the word luck, which comes from a Middle Dutch luc and wasn’t common until the late 15th century, the early days of Modern English. What they did have, though, since around the 13th century, was the word hap, adopted from the Old Norse word happ meaning “good luck, chance.” And although hap is rather uncommon on its own today, it’s the lexical link among a number of other common words. Perhaps you’ll recognize some of them.

See what I did there?

Perhaps was coined by adding the Latinate prefix per- “by” to hap “chance.” This combination of Latin and Norse roots makes perhaps a hybrid word, which historically some language snoots have eschewed. Maybe that’s why Shakespeare chose instead to have Hamlet use a totally Latinate alternative in his famous soliloquy: “To sleep, perchance to dream.” Or maybe he just thought it sounded better.

We can call someone who is unlucky or unfortunate hapless — literally “without luck.” The opposite of hapless isn’t hapful but, at least originally, something more recognizable: happy. In most European languages, the modern word that means “happy” began as a word meaning “lucky,” and Modern English is no different.

(Tangent: Gesælig was the Old English word for “happy,” but it underwent rapid and varying development and wound up as our modern silly. This left a hole in the language that was filled by both happy and glad. A deep dive into the tortuous history of silly is a topic for a later column.)

The bad luck that follows the hapless can often lead to an unfortunate event — a mishap, which relies on the prefix mis-, meaning “bad.” And it’s no coincidence that a mishap happens. The verb happen was coined by adding the –en suffix. It originally indicated that something “occurred by chance,” but by the end of the 14th century it just meant “to occur.”

The evolution of English can, at times, seem rather haphazard — that is, characterized by randomness or disorganization, from hap + hazard “risk,” which stems from a French dice game. But sometimes the patterns and connections make perfect sense are right there in front of us. We just have to notice them.

Featured image: Everett Collection / Shutterstock

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Comments

  1. First of all Andy, I LOVE the opening picture because I love and appreciate classic cars; always having a special place in my heart for those charming antique models of 1935 and earlier. I’m really sorry this happened to it!!!

    This is a very interesting feature. I was going to put comments in on the 27th, but it wasn’t meant to happen. By a fortunate coincidence I was in Sprout’s earlier today… and then it happened! What was it? Why, it was hearing “The Happening” from ’67 by The Supremes on their vintage song selections played!

    I felt much happier after hearing it. It happened to me, and it could happen to you. By the way, one of my favorite ad slogans was for the ’67 Impala: “Everything New That Could Have Happened… Happened!

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