lamer

Forms

lamer (first-person singular present lamo, first-person singular preterite lamí, past participle lamido)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin lambō (“to lick”).^[2][3][4][1] The oldest record, the Libro de Alexandre, has lamber in one manuscript and lamer in the other.^[2]

The form with /mb/ belongs to the Leonese dialects in the widest sense, as in Asturian llamber, with a small second area in Navarre and Álava where the group /mb/ was kept; in the Americas lamber is a popular form in every Spanish-speaking country, and Corominas counts it among the Leonese features of American Spanish.^[2] Castilian reduced the group to /m/.^[2][5]

Among the Romance languages the verb lives on only in Spanish, Portuguese lamber, Galician lamber and Logudorese lambere;^[6] Catalan keeps only derivatives such as Catalan llaminer (“sweet-toothed”).^[2][6]

De Vaan sets up Proto-Italic *lamb- and, with a nasal infix, Proto-Indo-European *lh₂-m-P- (“to lick”), comparing Ancient Greek λάπτω (láptō, “to lick”), Old English lapian (“to drink, lap up”) and Old High German laffan (“to lick”).^[7] Because the labial consonants do not match from language to language, he takes these words to be probably imitative.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The DCECH's first record is the Libro de Alexandre (1240–1250), with lamber and lamer in its two manuscripts.^[2][8] The CDH's hits of 1250 in the Moamín and the Fuero Juzgo are forms of llamar; its first clear example is in Calila e Dimna (1251, in a copy of about 1400), where a fox començó de lamer aquella sangre “began to lick that blood” spilt by two fighting rams.^[9]

Semantic evolution

The figurative sense “to touch lightly” is found in Alfonso X's General estoria (1272–1275), where the flames of the burning bush seem to lick its leaves without burning them.^[10] Juan Ruiz uses lamer, which has been in general use ever since.^[2] Nebrija in 1492 still gave both forms, lamber o lamer.^[11] Covarrubias in 1611 quoted the biblical curse of the dogs licking blood and noted that licking the plates is a habit of greedy boys.^[12] The Diccionario de Autoridades defined the figurative sense as touching something gently and wearing it away little by little, and recorded tener or llevar qué lamer “to have suffered a grave harm”.^[13]

In Mexico in 1569 the natives swore an oath by touching the earth and licking what stuck to their hand.^[14] In Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia lamer also means to flatter servilely.^[15] Corominas dates the derivatives lamedura and relamerse from 1495.^[3]

Timeline

• 1240–1250 – the Libro de Alexandre has lamber and lamer.^[2][8]
• 1251 – Calila e Dimna: a fox licks the rams' blood.^[9]
• 1272–1275 – Alfonso X's General estoria uses it of flames.^[10]
• 1330–1343 – Juan Ruiz's Libro de buen amor has lamer.^[2]
• 1492 – Nebrija's Latin–Spanish dictionary gives lamber o lamer.^[11]
• 1569 – first record from the Americas, in Mexico.^[14]
• 1611 – Covarrubias defines it as gathering a liquid with the tongue.^[12]
• 1734 – the Diccionario de Autoridades adds the figurative “touch gently”.^[13]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary gives the etymology from Latin lambere.^[16]

Meanings

Verb

1. To lick: to pass the tongue over something; also reflexive, to lick oneself: La perra lamía a sus cachorros recién nacidos.^[4][1]
2. To brush or lap softly against something in passing, as water or flames do: Las olas lamían el casco de la barca.^[4][17]
3. (Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia) To flatter servilely.^[15]

Word family

• lamedura
• lamedor
• lameculos
• lamerón
• lametón
• relamer

Related words

• lamber
• Latin lambō

Usage notes

Idioms are dejar a alguien qué lamer “to do someone harm that cannot soon be mended” and llevar qué lamer “to have suffered such harm”.^[4] The proverb el buey suelto bien se lame “the loose ox licks itself well”, praising freedom, is in the Quijote.^[18][19] The form lamber is still used in Leonese and Asturian speech and widely in the Americas.^[2][5]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 565
3. ^ a b Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. lamer
4. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. lamer
5. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 3730
6. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ a b Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock
9. ^ a b Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE
10. ^ a b Kasten, Lloyd A.; Nitti, John J.; Gago Jover, Francisco (2002–), Diccionario de la prosa castellana del Rey Alfonso X, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (electronic edition 2024), p. s.v. lamer
11. ^ a b Lleal, Coloma (dir.), DICCA-XV: Diccionario del castellano del siglo XV en la Corona de Aragón, Barcelona: Universitat de Barcelona, Grup d'Estudis d'Història de la Llengua (GHCL), https://ghcl.ub.edu/diccaxv
12. ^ a b Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 1062
13. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 4, 354
14. ^ a b Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies
15. ^ a b Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer
16. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 627
17. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial
18. ^ Cejador y Frauca, Julio (1905–1906), La lengua de Cervantes: gramática y diccionario de la lengua castellana en El ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha, 2 vols., Madrid: Jaime Ratés, p. 657
19. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos