Etymology: < German hep, hepp, interjection (often reduplicated) (1819; now historical), origin uncertain and disputed, perhaps a transferred use of German regional (Central: especially Franconia) hep , goatherd's call to attract the attention of a goat (perhaps formed similarly to hip int.). Compare (apparently < the interjection) the German nouns †Hepp, †Hepp-Hepp, used as an insult to denote a Jew; compare also German regional (Central) Heppe goat, perhaps also related to the interjection.The interjection (in anti-Semitic use) was either introduced or popularized during a particular series of pogroms (see hep hep riots n. at Compounds 2), which began in Würzburg (in Franconia, now part of Bavaria) on 2 Aug. 1819, so within the region where the goatherd's call is common. An alternative interpretation of the interjection as an acronym < the initials of a supposed post-classical Latin phrase Hierosolyma Est Perdita, lit. ‘Jerusalem is lost’ (cited as the slogan of a faction of crusaders) appears to originate in the following article, which makes reference to a series of pogroms in 1096 (known as the Rhineland Massacres); however, most of the details it cites, including the slogan, cannot be substantiated:1819 New Times 28 Aug. 2/5 A party of crusaders..went about recruiting for followers with colours, on which were inscribed the first letters of the words Hierosolyma Est Perdita (Jerusalem is Lost), H. E. P... Wherever this band came with their colours, the people exclaimed 'Hep!' Hep!' and fell upon the Jews.

Etymology: < hep adj.With sense 2 compare hep v. 2 and discussion at that entry.

Etymology: Shortened < hepatitis n.

Etymology: Origin uncertain and disputed. Compare hip adj. and hepped adj., which are attested from a similar date and appear to be related to the present word, although the relative priority of the three words is unclear, as is the nature of the relationship between them.Various suggestions have been made as to the origin of this word and of the synonymous adjectives hip adj. and hepped adj. in the sense ‘well-informed, in the know’. Quotation evidence suggests an early association with the male forename Joe or Joseph (compare e.g. 1902 at hip adj., 1909 at hepped adj. 1, and quot. 1913 at sense 1); accordingly, derivation has been proposed from an eponymous Joe or Joseph Hepp (or Hep) , and many suggestions have been made as to his identity. A long-standing view (expressed e.g. in quot. 1909 at hepped adj. 1 and in the article cited in 1913 at sense 1) identifies him as a worker in the circus trade, variously named as Joe or Joseph Hepp (or Hept) . Several individuals connected with the American circus were known by this name, including Warren A. Patrick (c1870–1915), circus treasurer, promoter, and journalist, who wrote a show business gossip column under this pseudonym in the N. Y. Clipper from 1912–15, and Frank V. Lemen (1847–1921), circus musician, manager, and proprietor, who is reported to have been nicknamed Joe Hepp after a famously shrewd and well-connected circus employee of that name. Although documentation has not been found to show that either Patrick or Lemen was called by this name until the decade after this group of adjectives is first attested, there is earlier evidence for a historical Joseph W. Hepp , contracting agent for several prominent circus companies, whose name appears frequently in the U.S. entertainment press in lists of members of the trade and in job advertisements for curiosities, bandleaders, and sideshow solicitors throughout the 1870s and early 1880s, and who is recorded as working at W. W. Cole's Colossal Circus while Lemen was manager there in 1886. It is therefore possible that both the nickname and the adjective derive from the name of this man. Alternatively, this adjective may represent a regional or colloquial pronunciation of up adj.; with to put (someone) hep to in quot. 1903 at sense 1 compare to put (someone) up to (see to put up 9 at put v. Phrasal verbs 1). Perhaps compare also hup int., hip int. See also discussion at hip adj.

Etymology: < hep adj. With sense 1 compare earlier hepped adj. With sense 2 compare slightly earlier hep n.² 2.In sense 2 perhaps influenced or reinforced by association with pep v.¹ 2; compare also earlier hype v., hip v.⁴ With the use with reference to a horse in quot. 2010 at this sense, perhaps compare also hup int.