lamp

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈlæ̞mp/ (UK); /ˈlæ̝mp/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English lampe, laumpe, borrowed from Old French lampe (“lamp, lights”),^[2][3][4] from Late Latin lampada, from Latin lampas, a torch,^[4][5][3] from Greek λαμπάς (lampás, “torch, lamp, beacon, meteor”), from λάμπειν (lámpein, “to shine”),^[2][3] perhaps from a nasalized form of Proto-Indo-European *lehp-, to light, glow, source also of Old Irish lassair, flame, Lithuanian lópė, light, and Hittite lap-, to glow.^[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A vessel of oil burnt at a wick to give light: about 1200.^[2][6][3]

Semantic evolution

Used for a torch it is from 1382,^[6] and of a heavenly body, the sun, moon or a star, from 1423.^[6] The eyes have been lamps since 1590, once poetic and now slang.^[6] Figuratively a source of spiritual or intellectual light is from 1500–20,^[6] and a literary work that smells of the lamp shows signs of laborious study (1579).^[6] The miner's safety lamp is from 1839.^[6] Lamplight is from about 1380.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1200 – an oil lamp.^[6]
• c. 1380 – lamplight.^[2]
• 1423 – a heavenly body.^[6]
• 1500–20 – a source of light (figurative).^[6]
• 1590 – the eyes.^[6]
• 1839 – a safety lamp.^[6]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A device that gives light, such as an electric, gas or oil lamp.
2. A vessel of oil or other fuel burned through a wick to give light.
3. A device that produces heat or therapeutic radiation: an ultraviolet lamp.
4. A source of spiritual or intellectual light.

Word family

• lampless
• headlamp
• lamppost
• lampshade
• flashlamp
• lampblack
• lamplight
• lamplighter

Related words

• lantern
• limpid

Usage notes

In Scots, a separate verb lamp, of unknown origin, means to stride along quickly.^[7][8]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ 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)