laper French · revision 16001

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=onomatopoeia|attested=c. 1180, Marie de France}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /la.pe/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''laper'''^(Wiktionary)

+ Also ''lapper'' (old spelling, still in Huysmans and the Goncourts).^(TLFi)^(Grand Robert 2005)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It comes from an imitative root “lap-” expressing the sound of lapping.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(FEW|5, 174a) A borrowing from Germanic ([[de|lappen]], Middle Dutch “lapen”, [[ang|lapian]], [[en|lap]]) is not necessary, since the word also exists in several Romance languages (Genoese “lappa” “to drink”, Andalusian “lapo” “gulp”);^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) Bloch and Wartburg allow that the Germanic words may be independent formations.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) Wiktionary and Littré take it from Germanic.^(Wiktionary)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ [[lamper]] is a nasalised form.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Marie de France's ''Fables'' (about 1180) has ''L'ewe comença a laper'', it began to lap the water: of an animal drinking with its tongue.^(TLFi)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ By about 1200 (''Aliscans'') it was used of a person drinking greedily (''le vin boire, engloutir et laper''), and Eustache Deschamps warns against ''trop laper d'hypocras'';^(TLFi)^(Littré 1873)^(GLLF 1989) this familiar sense later passed to ''lamper''.^(DHLF 1992) The verb has otherwise kept its first sense, of a cat or dog drinking.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(TLFi) ''Lapement'' dates from 1611; in Belgium a ''lapette'' is weak, watery coffee.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1180 – ''Laper'' in Marie de France.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1200 – Of a person, in ''Aliscans''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1611 – ''Lapement'', in Cotgrave.^(TLFi)

+ * 1642 – ''Lamper''.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To [[m|en|lap]] (up): ''le chat lape son lait''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(familiar)'' Of a person, to drink greedily.^(GLLF 1989)^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[lapement]]

+ * [[lamper]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[en|lap]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}