Can anyone say how these two words, so similar in sound though not meaning, developed?

napier (NAY-pee-uhr) noun

One in charge of table linen in a royal household.

[Apparently from Anglo-Norman nape (tablecloth).] and

nape
"back of the neck," c.1300, of unknown origin, perhaps from O.Fr. hanap "a goblet," in reference to the hollow at the base of the skull.
Online Etymology Dictionary

A) Where did you get that definition of 'napier'?

And

2) Where did you get that etymology of 'napier'?

I found 'napier' in the B&M OEDn and in a list of early occupations. In both cases the reference is to 'naperer' with no etymology given, either for 'napier' or 'naperer'.

she probly dint get it here, but..

napier, n.
[Prob. < NAPE n.2 + -IER 2, perh. after Middle French nappier (1374) or the occupational surname Napier (also Naper; both widespread in England from the 12th cent.). Cf. earlier NAPERER n.]

= NAPERER n.
[1855 Edinb. Rev. Apr. 356 Draper and Naper, or Napier, deserve explanation. The former word in its early use seems to have meant simply a cloth merchant; the latter's dealings were not with drapery, but with napery only.] 1880 J. H. BURTON Reign Q. Anne I. i. 39 The office of napier being attached to a manor held in grand sergeantry by a noble house. 1988 Amer. Hist. Rev. 93 349 [In 1130] Torell the napier was excused thirty shillings.

OED, DRAFT REVISION June 2003

when i first saw the word, (it was a word of the day this week) i thought of John Napier, mathmatician, inventer of napiers bones, an early mechanical adding machine (the first one was made from pieces of ivory, hence the name.

This NAPE n.2, is that the same nape as the one that's on the back of one's neck or is it related to, e.g., napkin and napron?

nope, not neck; it's an obsolete term for tablecloth, apparently related to napkin.

< Anglo-Norman nape, nap and Middle French nape (c1140 in Old French; French nappe) < classical Latin mappa MAP n.1, with dissimilation of initial consonant (see note). The post-classical Latin forms napa (from c1160 in British sources), nappa (first half of the 13th cent. in British sources) are prob. < or after Anglo-Norman and Old French. Cf. NAPKIN n.

edit: in classical L., mappa is towel, napkin; later to become map, chart, etc. (drawing a map on a napkin? )

What I wanna know is, by what process did the M become an N. Are there any other examples of this?

dissimilation.

-ron o.

A) Where did you get that definition of 'napier'?

And

2) Where did you get that etymology of 'napier'?

From the W.A.D. for last Tuesday: the 3rd.

Thanks--this is really interesting! Maps on napkins? :-)

Helen--I'd forgotten about napiers bones--thank you.

napier also is the source of "apple pie order" --a mondegreen of sorts, for "folded linens/clothes" (ie NEAT) that got mis heard/'translated into something' that made some sort of sence.

(i think tsuwm gave details once--long ago)

>apple pie order <> napier

not me.. I don't think I've even heard it used before.

-joe (nappes pliées) friday

the french is "folded napkins/linens/cloth' (napier plei?(like a plei in ballet, a 'folded or bent' knee)

its easy to see a napier Plie (folden cloth/es) =turning into
a(n) ap(p)le Pie (an apple pie)--> to apple pie order (neat)
(the idiom apple pie order came into english after WWI)

(but i remember first reading about it here)