A past tense form of 'erepere,' an archaic or obsolete verb meaning 'to snatch away' or 'to seize and pull out.'
From Latin 'erepere' (to snatch away), with '-t' as an archaic English past tense ending. The root relates to 'rape' in its original Latin sense of 'seizing' (not the modern sense).
The '-t' past tense ending (as in 'erept,' 'learnt,' 'spelt') was once common in English but is dying out because regular '-ed' endings are more predictable—it's a case of language optimizing itself for simplicity.
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