lamb | Search Online Etymology Dictionary

42 entries found.

fem. proper name, Old English Maria, Marie, name of the mother of Jesus, from Latin Maria, from Greek Mariam, Maria, from Aramaic Maryam, from Hebrew Miryam, name of the sister of Moses (Exodus xv), a word of unknown origin, said to mean literally "rebellion."

The nursery rhyme "Mary had a Little Lamb" was written early 1830 by Sarah Josepha Hale of Boston and published September 1830 in "Juvenile Miscellany," a popular magazine for children. Mary Jane is 1921 as the proprietary name of a kind of low-heeled shoe worn chiefly by young girls, 1928 as slang for marijuana.

ossifrage (n.)

"sea-eagle, osprey," c. 1600, from Latin ossifraga "vulture," fem. of ossifragus, literally "bone-breaker," from ossifragus (adj.) "bone-breaking," from os (genitive ossis) "bone" (from PIE root *ost- "bone") + stem of frangere "to break" (from PIE root *bhreg- "to break").

By this name Pliny meant "the Lammergeier" (that name is from German and means literally "lamb-vulture"), a very large Old World vulture that swallows and digests bones and was believed also to drop them from aloft to break them and get at the marrow. But in England and France, the word was transferred to the osprey, perhaps on the basis of a rough similarity of sound between the two words.

lambent (adj.)

of light, flame, etc., "flowing or running over the surface," 1640s, from a figurative use of Latin lambentem (nominative lambens), present participle of lambere "to lick, lap, wash, bathe," from PIE root *lab-, indicative of smacking lips or licking (source also of Greek laptein "to sip, to lick," Old English lapian "to lick, lap up, to suck;" see lap (v.1)).

lambic (n.)

also lambick, kind of strong Belgian beer, 1829, related to French alambic "a still" (see alembic).

Lambeth

used metonymically for "Church of England, Archbishop of Canterbury," 1859, from the archbishop's palace in Lambeth, a South London borough. The place name is Old English lambehyðe, "place where lambs are embarked or landed." In church history, the Lambeth Articles were doctrinal statements written in 1595 by Archbishop of Canterbury John Whitgift. The Lambeth Walk was a Cockney song and dance, popularized in Britain 1937 in the revue "Me and my Gal," named for a street in the borough.

lambda (n.)

Greek letter name, from a Semitic source akin to Hebrew lamedh.

lambency (n.)

"quality of shining with a clear, soft light," 1817, from lambent (q.v.) + abstract noun suffix -cy. A figurative use, the etymological Latin sense "act or quality of licking" has been rare in English.

lambdacism (n.)

excessive use of the letter -l-, 1650s in writing, 1864 in pronunciation, from lambda + -ism.

lambaste (v.)

1630s, apparently from baste "to thrash" (see baste (v.3)) + the obscure verb lam "to beat, to lame" or the related Elizabethan noun lam "a heavy blow" (implied by 1540s in puns on lambskin). Compare earlier lamback "to beat, thrash" (1580s, used in old plays). A dictionary from c. 1600 defines Latin defustare as "to lamme or bumbast with strokes." Related: Lambasted; lambasting.

lambada (n.)

type of sensual Brazilian dance, 1988, from Portuguese, said in some sources to mean literally "a beating, a lashing." But others [Watkins] connect it ultimately to Latin lumbus "loin" (see lumbo-).

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