Etymology Dictionary

IMP,  a graft, offspring, demon.  (Low Lat.,—Gk.)   Formerly used in a good sense, meaning 'scion' or 'offspring.'   'Well worthy impe;' Spenser, F. Q. i. 9. 6.   'And thou, most dreaded impe of highest Jove;' id. Introd. to b. i. st. 3.   M.E. imp, ymp, a graft on a tree; impen, ympen, to graft.   'I was sumtyme a frere [friar], And the couentes [convent's] gardyner, for to graffe ympes; On limitoures and listres lesynges I ymped;' P. Plowman, B. v. 136-8.   'Of feble trees ther comen wretched impes;' Chaucer, C. T. 13962.   The pl. sb. impen occurs in the Ancren Riwle, p. 378, l. 24; and the pp. i-imped, i.e. grafted, in the same, p. 360, l. 6.   The verb is due to the sb.   [The A.S. impian, to graft (Lye), is unauthorised.]—Low Lat. impotus, a graft, occurring in the Lex Salica; see the text called Lex Emendata, c. xxvii. § 8.—Gk. ἔμφυτος, engrafted; James, i. 21.—Gk. ἐμφύειν, to implant.—Gk. ἐμ- for ἐν, in; and φύειν, to produce, from ✔BHU, to be.   See In and Be.   ¶ From the same source are W. impio, to graft, imp, a graft, scion; Dan. ympe, Swed. ympa, G. impfen, O.H.G. impitón, imphón, to graft; also F. enter, to graft; shewing that the word was widely spread at an early period.   Der. imp, vb., Rich. II, ii. 1. 292, M.E. impen, as above. [†]

ADDENDA

The A.S. nom. pl. impan, shoots, scions, occurs in Ælfred, tr. of Past. Care, p. 381, l. 17.