hope:

O.E. hopian "wish, expect, look forward (to something)," of unknown origin, a general Low Ger. word (cf. O.Fris. hopia, M.L.G., M.Du. hopen; M.H.G. hoffen "to hope" was borrowed from Low Ger. Some suggest a connection with hop (v.) on the notion of "leaping in expectation."
What does all that mean?
As far as I know, it translates to "Old English hopian "wish, expect, look forward (to something),...
What does 'general Low Ger. word' mean? and all of those abbreviations that follow it also? thanks very much

Low German is an archaic dialect of the german language spoken in northern Germany. The terrain there is relatively flat, hence the name "Low".

High German (hoch deutsch) is the German that is spoken by educated German speakers, sort of like BBC English I suppose.

Low German is dialects that eventually were winnowed down into German and some other Germanic languages, such as Nederlands, the Dutch language.
One such, maybe, is Frisan, spoken in Friesland, a northern province of the Netherlands along the North Sea. Some of the Frisian Islands along that coast are in Germany. Others are middle low German, middle high German. I do not know what M.Du is unless middle Dutch I suppose. I speak enough Dutch to know that hopen is correct in Holland now.
In any case they are saying that the word comes down to us with Germanic languages in general.

thanks a lot

Thank you for using the Jiskha Homework Help Forum. Just in case you'd like the O.Fris. explained:

O.Fris. Old Frisian, language akin to Eng. spoken on the North Sea coast of modern Netherlands and Germany before 1500. ...

www.etymonline.com/abbr.php

Sra

P.S. the other abbreviations were the languages spoken c. 1100 - c. 1500.

M.L.G. = Middle Low German
M.H.G. = Middle High German
M.Du = Middle Dutch

Sra

In the context of the definition you provided, "general Low Ger. word" refers to a general word used in the Low German language. Low German, also known as Low Saxon, is a West Germanic language spoken mainly in Northern Germany and the eastern part of The Netherlands. It is a distinct language from Old English, but they have some historical connections.

The abbreviations mentioned in the definition are:

- O.Fris.: Old Frisian, an extinct West Germanic language spoken in the Frisian region of the Netherlands and Germany.

- M.L.G.: Middle Low German, a historical form of the Low German language spoken during the Middle Ages.

- M.Du.: Middle Dutch, a historical form of the Dutch language spoken during the Middle Ages.

- M.H.G.: Middle High German, a historical form of the High German language spoken during the Middle Ages.

These abbreviations are used to specify the various related languages or dialects that are connected to the development and usage of the word "hope" throughout history.