The word "crepe" (or crêpe) entered English in the late 18th century from French crêpe, which descended from Old French crespe (curly, wrinkled), from Latin crispus (curled, wrinkled, having wavy hair). The word names two apparently unrelated things — a thin pancake and a crinkled fabric — that share the quality of a wrinkled or textured surface.
Latin crispus is the ancestor of a surprisingly wide word family in English. "Crisp" itself arrived through Old English, which borrowed it directly from Latin — one of the earliest Latin loans into English, predating the Norman Conquest. "Crinkle" may be related through a frequentative form. The French crêpe thus represents a second, later borrowing of the same Latin word, entering English in a different form and with different associations.
The fabric sense came first in English. Crepe fabric is woven with a twisted yarn that produces a characteristically crinkled or pebbled surface. "Crepe" or "crape" (an anglicised spelling) became strongly associated with mourning in the 19th century — black crepe bands on hats and armbands were standard signs of bereavement in Victorian England. Queen Victoria's prolonged mourning for Prince Albert made crepe an icon of grief, and the fabric draped over mirrors and doorways in houses of mourning became a familiar sight.
The pancake sense of crêpe developed in French cuisine and was adopted into English somewhat later. French crêpes are thinner than English or American pancakes, cooked on a flat griddle or in a special crêpe pan, and their slightly puckered surface texture echoes the wrinkled quality that gave them their name. Breton galettes — savoury crêpes made with buckwheat flour — represent a regional variation that predates the refined Parisian crêpe.
The tradition of making crêpes on La Chandeleur (Candlemas, February 2nd) connects the food to pre-Christian solar symbolism. The round, golden crêpe was understood as a representation of the sun, and making crêpes marked the return of longer days after winter. Superstition held that flipping a crêpe while holding a gold coin in the other hand would bring prosperity for the coming year — a tradition that persists in many French households.
In modern English, the two senses of "crepe" have diverged almost completely. Few speakers connecting a crêpe Suzette to crepe paper would recognize them as the same word applied to the same quality — crinkledness. Yet the Latin crispus, meaning curled and wrinkled, unifies the delicate pancake, the mourning fabric, and the party decoration in a single etymological thread.