C17 (a dealer, chapman): from dialect cope to buy, barter, from Low German; related to Dutch koopen to buy
coper in American English
(ˈkoupər)
noun
Brit
a horse dealer
Also called: horse-coper
Word origin
[1600–10; cope4 + -er1]This word is first recorded in the period 1600–10. Other words that entered Englishat around the same time include: adaptation, cadet, criticism, progressive, setup-er is a suffix used in forming nouns designating persons from the object of their occupationor labor (hatter; tiler; tinner; moonshiner), or from their place of origin or abode (Icelander; southerner; villager), or designating either persons or things from some special characteristic or circumstance(six-footer; three-master; teetotaler; fiver; tenner)