Etymologically
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lamper

Etymology and origin of the French word lamper

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Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1642

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /lɑ̃.pe/[1]

Forms

lamper[1]

Etymology

It is a nasalised form of laper (“to lap”),[2][3][4][5][6] itself of imitative origin.[3][4] Rey thinks the word was influenced by lampe, used slightly later for the stomach that receives a liquid (s'en mettre plein la lampe).[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the exclamation lampons ! “let's drink!” in Le Nouveau Siècle de Louis XIV (1642);[2][5] Bloch and Wartburg date the verb to 1655 (Pierre Borel).[4][7]

Semantic evolution

At first familiar for “to drink greedily”, as laper had once been for people, lamper is now cut off from laper in feeling.[3] It means to drink at a gulp or in great draughts (Balzac's clerk lampant un neuvième verre de vin de Champagne), and figuratively to swallow up.[2][7] The noun lampée “gulp” dates from 1678.[4][3] In Mauritian French lamper and lampeur mean “to get drunk” and “drunkard”.[3]

Timeline

  • 1642 – Lampons !.[2]
  • 1655 – Lamper in Borel.[4]
  • 1678 – Lampée.[4]
  • 1694 – In the Académie.[2]

Meanings

Verb

  1. (familiar) To gulp down, swig: lamper un verre de vin.[8][1]
  2. (figurative) To swallow up.[2]

Word family

  • lampée
  • lampée

Usage notes

Littré records a separate sailors' lamper, from lampe, said of a phosphorescent sea: la mer lampe.[9]

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
  3. ^ a b c d e f Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b c d e f Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  5. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 5, 174b
  7. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  8. ^ Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  9. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
Cite this entry

“Lamper.” Etymologically, 17 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/lamper. Accessed 17 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·