llama

Etymology

It is borrowed from Spanish llama,^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} quoted as a Peruvian name of the animal in 1535, by Oviedo,^[2][3] from Quechua llama.^{[3][4][6][5][7]} Dictionary.com notes that the Quechua word has a palatal l,^[8] and the Oxford Dictionary of English and the Concise Oxford call the Quechua origin probable;^[9][10] Klein says only that it is a native Peruvian name.^[11] In a lexicon of the language of Peru printed in 1560 it is given, with paco, guanaco and vicuña, as a rendering of Spanish oveja (“sheep”).^[2] Skeat, citing Prescott, said it meant “flock”, but noted that a Peruvian dictionary gives it as “sheep of the country”.^[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

The South American animal: 1600, in the new edition of R. Hakluyt's Principal Navigations.^[2][5][4] Etymonline dates it to about 1600,^[3] and Dictionary.com to 1590–1600.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The word has kept its first meaning, the domesticated animal related to the camel, kept as a beast of burden and for its wool.^[2][13] It was used before nouns, as in llama-cloth and llama-wool, from 1809,^[2] and for the wool itself or a material made from it from 1864.^[2] Dictionaries also use it for any animal of the genus Lama, such as the alpaca and the guanaco.^[14][15][5] In American Black slang a llama is a gun, from the name of the Spanish gunmakers Llama, recorded from 1991.^[16]

Timeline

• 1600 – the domesticated South American animal.^[2][5][4]
• 1809 – before nouns, as in “llama-cloth” and “llama-wool”.^[2]
• 1864 – the wool of the llama, or a material made from it.^[2]
• 1991 – a gun, in American Black slang.^[16]

Meanings

Noun

1. A domesticated South American ruminant (Lama glama) related to the camel but smaller and without a hump, kept as a pack animal and for its wool and meat: The trekkers hired two llamas to carry their tents.^{[15][5][14][2]}
2. Any animal of the genus Lama, such as the alpaca or the guanaco.^[14][15][5]
3. The wool of the llama, or cloth made from it.^[15][2][13]
4. (US slang) A gun.^[16][1]

Related words

• lama

Usage notes

Merriam-Webster Unabridged gives the plural as llamas, also llama.^[5] Dictionary.com lists lama, the Tibetan monk, as a word easily confused with llama.^[8] Hendrickson retells the old story that the Spaniards asked the local people “¿Cómo se llama?” (“What is it called?”) and took the repeated llama for the animal's name, and notes that the OED derives it from a Peruvian word instead.^[17]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
9. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
12. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
13. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
14. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
15. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
16. ^ a b c Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
17. ^ Hendrickson, Robert (2008), The Facts on File Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins, 4th ed., New York: Facts on File