Etymograph

English

lam

Lam comes from Old English lemian ‘to lame’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *h₃lemH- ‘weak, broken, soft’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₃lemH-‘weak, broken, soft’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*lamaz‘lame’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanic, derivedc. 500 BCE–200 CE*lamjaną‘to lame, cripple’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150lemian‘to lame’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500lamen
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1947lam

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₃lemH-‘weak, broken, soft’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*lamaz‘lame’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanic, derivedc. 500 BCE–200 CE*lamjaną‘to lame, cripple’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150lemian‘to lame’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500lamen
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1947lam

Earliest quotation: 1947, Bill Finger, World's Finest Comics #30: “[Gangster running away:] Batman and Robin! Let's lam!”

Linked words

through Proto-Germanic *lamaz ‘lame’

lame

Another origin of lam

  1. Arabicc. 500–presentلَامlām‘Name of the 23rd letter of the Arabic alphabet (ل (l)), representing the sound /l/’
  2. Englishtodaylam

Today it means

verb To beat or thrash.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *h₃lemH- / lam

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