lama

Etymology

Most dictionaries take it directly from Tibetan, from a word for a spiritual leader or high priest written with a silent initial b.^{[2][3][4][5][6][7][8]} In the revised OED it is borrowed from New Latin lama, used in a Latin work translated into English in 1654, and that from the Mongolian word, recorded from the 14th century, or from its Tibetan source.^[9] The Tibetan word means literally "superior one";^[9][10][11] the American Heritage Dictionary analyses it as a word for the soul with a noun suffix,^[12] and Dictionary.com notes that in Tibetan it is applied only to monks of high rank.^[13] The OED compares French lama (1629) and Dutch lama (1670 or earlier).^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

A spiritual leader in the forms of Buddhism practised in Tibet and Mongolia: 1654, in an English translation of Martino Martini's Bellum Tartaricum.^[9] Merriam-Webster and Barnhart date it to 1654 as well,^[5][3] Etymonline to the 1650s^[2] and Dictionary.com to 1645–55.^[13]

Semantic evolution

From 1669 the Lama could stand for the head of Tibetan Buddhism, the Dalai Lama, after the Latin Magnus Lama that gave English Grand Lama and Great Lama.^[9] From 1841 the word was applied more widely to any Tibetan or Mongolian Buddhist monk.^[9] The spelling lhama probably comes from association with Lhasa, and the occasional spelling llama from the animal's name;^[9] Weekley quotes a passage that confuses the two.^[14] The French derivative lamaserie gave English lamasery, a monastery of lamas, recorded from 1849 in Etymonline and 1867 in Barnhart.^[2][3][4]

Timeline

• 1654 – a Buddhist spiritual leader in Tibet or Mongolia.^[9][5][3]
• 1669 – the Lama, the Dalai Lama.^[9]
• 1841 – a Tibetan or Mongolian Buddhist monk.^[9]
• 1849 – lamasery, a monastery of lamas.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A spiritual teacher or leader in Tibetan Buddhism, sometimes regarded as the reincarnation of an earlier one.^[9][5][7]
2. A Tibetan or Mongolian Buddhist monk or priest.^[6][9][5]
3. the Lama: the Dalai Lama.^[9]

Related words

• lamaism
• lamasery
• Dalai Lama
• Panchen Lama
• Tashi Lama
• llama
• Lhasa

Usage notes

Lama and llama are pronounced alike and were sometimes confused in spelling.^[9][14] Merriam-Webster also has Lama, with a capital, as the zoological genus of the llama and its relatives, from French and Spanish llama,^[5] and the OED a rare noun lama, a gold or silver cloth originally made in Spain, from a Spanish word for a metal plate (1818).^[9]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
7. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
13. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
14. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray