dromedary

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English dromedarie,^[2][3] borrowed from Old French dromedaire and directly borrowed from Late Latin dromedārius (“a kind of camel”),^[4][5][6] which stands for *dromadārius,^[5][7] from Latin dromas (“dromedary”),^[5][4][6] from Ancient Greek δρομάς (dromás, “running, runner”).^[5][8][9] The Greek name meant "running camel", and the Late Latin adjective was likewise used with the noun for camel understood.^[4][3][10] The Greek adjective is related to δραμεῖν (drameîn, “to run”) and δρόμος (drómos, “a running, course, racecourse”),^[8][3] from Proto-Indo-European *drem- (“to run”).^[8][4] Klein puts the Latin e down to the influence of words with the same ending, such as verēdārius (“post boy, courier”), and explains the a of modern French dromadaire as a refashioning after the Greek.^[8] The Anglo-Norman dromedarie is recorded from 1121–35.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

A fast camel bred for riding: Barnhart dates this probably to about 1280,^[10] Etymonline to the late 13th century and Merriam-Webster to the 13th century.^[4][3] The OED's first quotation is from before 1400, in Kyng Alisaunder.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The name describes the animal's speed: Ayto says that it got its name from its swiftness of foot.^[12] The dromedary is not a separate species but a variety bred for the saddle, which the Century Dictionary, as quoted by Etymonline, compared to a racehorse beside a cart-horse.^[4] English writers did not at first tie the word to one hump: Cooper, as quoted by Weekley, described it as having two "bunches" on the back,^[13] and Johnson (1755) said that dromedaries came in a larger kind with two small bunches and a lesser one with a single hump.^[14] Merriam-Webster now also uses it for the one-humped Arabian camel as opposed to the Bactrian.^[3] From the late 15th century to 1568 it was also applied to a large ship, as an equivalent of dromond.^[5] From 1567 to 1785 it was a contemptuous word for a stupid, bungling person,^[5] a use that thieves' cant narrowed to a clumsy thief, with purple dromedary for a bungler at thieving.^[15] The insult lived on in the dialects of Worcestershire, Herefordshire, Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire, where a dromedary was a dull or sleepy person, and in Suffolk the verb dromedary meant to dawdle.^[16] Forms such as drumbledairy arose by popular association with native words beginning drumble-.^[5][4]

Timeline

• c. 1280 – a fast camel bred for riding.^[10] The OED's first quotation is from before 1400.^[5]
• c. 1475 – a large ship, the same as a dromond (last recorded 1568).^[5]
• 1560s – the variant drumbledairy.^[4]
• 1567 – a stupid, bungling person (last recorded 1785).^[5]
• c. 1698 – in cant, a clumsy thief.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. The one-humped Arabian camel, as distinguished from the Bactrian camel.^[17][3]
2. A light, fast camel of this kind, bred and trained for riding or racing.^[17][3][5]
3. A trailer truck whose tractor unit has a short freight compartment of its own.^[3]
4. (obsolete, 1567–1785) A stupid or clumsy person.^[3][5]

Related words

• dromond
• hippodrome
• palindrome
• syndrome
• prodrome
• anadromous
• catadromous

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c d Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
11. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
12. ^ Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
13. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
14. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
15. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
16. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
17. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins