zeppelin

Etymology

It comes from the name of Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin (1838–1917), the German general and aircraft manufacturer who designed airships of this kind.^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} Barnhart and Etymonline take it as a borrowing of German Zeppelin, short for Zeppelinschiff (“Zeppelin ship”), and Barnhart also for Zeppelinkreuzer (“Zeppelin cruiser”).^[4][3] The OED's revised entry, however, records the English word from 1896, while the German word is found only from 1904, and French zeppelin from 1908.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A large German rigid airship of the early 20th century: 1896, in the Washington Post.^[2][6] Barnhart and Etymonline date the word to 1900.^[4][3]

Semantic evolution

Zeppelin first outlined his ideas for dirigible airships in 1874 and worked out his designs in detail in 1893; they were patented in Germany in 1895 and in the United States in 1899.^[2] The airships carried passengers and were used in the First World War for bombing and reconnaissance,^[8] and in American use the verb zeppelin soon meant to soar (1910) and, in baseball, to hit the ball high and far (1911), while in 1915 it meant to bomb from a zeppelin.^[2] In English the word became a general name for any airship,^[9][6][2] and soldiers' slang used zeppelins in a cloud for sausage and mash from 1915.^[2] It is often clipped to zepp.^[9][7]

Timeline

• 1896 – a large rigid airship of Zeppelin's design.^[2][6] Barnhart and Etymonline date the word to 1900.^[4][3]
• 1910 – verb, chiefly American, to soar.^[2]
• 1911 – verb, in baseball, to hit a home run (now disused).^[2]
• 1915 – verb, to bomb from a zeppelin.^[2]
• 1915 – slang, a sausage.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A large, cylindrical, rigid airship with a covered frame holding cells of gas, of the kind built in Germany in the early 20th century; broadly, any airship.^[6][8][2][7]
2. (slang) A sausage, especially in zeppelins in a cloud, sausage and mash.^[2]

Verb

1. (historical) To drop bombs on a place from a zeppelin.^[2][7]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
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. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
9. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray