English
lubber
Lubber may come from Old French lobeor ‘swindler’.
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400lobeor‘swindler’uncertain
- Englishearliest quotation 1832lubber
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400lobeor‘swindler’uncertain
- Englishearliest quotation 1832lubber
Earliest quotation: 1832, Thomas Carlyle, [James] Boswell’s Life of [Samuel] Johnson: “[T]hree of the boys, of whom Mr. Hector was…”
The story
From Middle English, perhaps from Old French lobeor (‘swindler’), from Old French lober to mock, to jeer, or of Scandinavian origin, compare dialectal Swedish lubber. The grasshopper was likely so called after sense 1 (‘a clumsy or lazy person’).
Every English word from Old French lobeor
Today it means
noun A clumsy or lazy person.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Old French lobeor / lubber