lantern

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English lanterne, borrowed from Old French lanterne (“lamp, lantern, light”),^[2][3][4][5] recorded in Anglo-Norman from 1160–74,^[6] from Latin lanterna (“lantern, lamp, torch”), also lāterna,^[7][8][2] from Ancient Greek λαμπτήρ (lamptḗr, “torch, beacon; lamp”),^{[7][2][9][10]} from λάμπω (lámpō, “to shine, give light”).^[7][2][10] The Latin ending follows lūcerna (“lamp”).^{[7][2][11][10][8]} Barnhart thinks the ending may point to an Etruscan intermediate form,^[3] Klein sees an Etruscan suffix “-na”, as in persōna,^[4] and Dictionary.com takes the Latin word as Etruscan.^[12] Skeat thought it no true Latin word.^[13] Etymonline derives the Greek verb from Proto-Indo-European *lap- (“to light, burn”).^[2] It is related to lamp.^[10][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A lamp or lantern: about 1250 in Barnhart,^[3] the mid 13th century in Etymonline.^[2] The OED's first quotations are from Chaucer, about 1374 in Troilus and Criseyde and about 1385 in the Legend of Good Women, for a transparent case of glass or horn protecting a light.^[7]

Semantic evolution

From the 16th to the 19th century the word was often spelled lanthorn, a popular etymology from the horn that the transparent sides of lanterns were usually made of;^{[7][10][14][2][13]} Johnson (1755) called the spelling a mistake.^[15] Figuratively, a lantern was something that gives light, often a person, from Wyclif's Psalms (1382),^[7] and to bear the lantern was to lead the way.^[7] About 1406 it was first used in architecture for a turret on a dome or roof with open or glazed sides that let in light;^[7][3][14] Barnhart thinks it was named for its likeness to a lantern.^[3] From 1601 to 1705 it could mean a lighthouse,^[7][16] and since 1796 the chamber at the top of a lighthouse where the light is placed.^[7][17] The lean look called lantern-jawed was compared to a lantern as early as Piers Plowman, where hunger left a man looking "lik a lanterne";^[2] Weekley explains the hollow look of the old-fashioned lantern.^[8] The verb, to furnish with a lantern, dates from 1799, and in 1815 it was used, after French lanterner, for hanging someone from a lamp post.^[7][16] In 19th-century American slang a lantern was a discarded cigar end still alight.^[18]

Timeline

• c. 1250 – lanterne, a lamp or lantern.^[3]
• c. 1374 – in transferred use, in Chaucer.^[7]
• 1382 – figurative, something that gives light.^[7]
• c. 1385 – a transparent case protecting a light.^[7]
• c. 1406 – in architecture, a turret with windows on a dome or roof.^[7][3]
• 1601 – a lighthouse (obsolete by 1705).^[7]
• 1674 – the whiff, a fish.^[7]
• 1796 – the light chamber of a lighthouse.^[7]
• 1799 – verb, to furnish or light with a lantern.^[7]
• 1815 – verb, to hang from a lamp post.^[7]
• 1881 – US slang, a burning cigar end.^[18]

Meanings

Noun

1. A portable lamp or light in a case with transparent sides, often with a handle: a camping lantern.^[17][16][7]
2. (architecture) A small structure on top of a dome or roof, with windows or openings to let in light or air.^[17][16][7]
3. The chamber at the top of a lighthouse that holds the light.^[17][7]
4. A magic lantern.^[17][7]
5. (obsolete) A lighthouse.^[16][7]

Verb

1. To furnish with a lantern, or to light with one.^[16][7]
2. To put someone to death by hanging from a lamppost.^[16][7]

Word family

• lanternfish
• jack-o'-lantern
• lantern-jawed
• lanternfly
• Chinese lantern
• dark lantern
• friar's lantern
• lantern jaw

Related words

• lamp

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
9. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
10. ^ a b c d e Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
11. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
13. ^ a b Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
14. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
15. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
16. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
17. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
18. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com