Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press. Anatoly Liberman, with the assistance ofJ. Reviews81 An Analytical Dictionary ofEnglish Etymology: An Introduction. Sign-up for my monthly language tips and trivia email newsletter for more articles like this.In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content: So, is this more than you ever wanted to know about being on the lam? But at least you know there are no sheep involved, so I’m calling that progress.Īre there any other expressions that you’re curious about? As always, please let me know, and good luck to you and your words, folks! I’m going to note this answer because I’ve seen it suggested online however, again, there doesn’t seem to be much in the historical record to argue for it. “Lam” is related to the English word “slam” Beating one’s feet on the pavement (or dirt… or cobblestones…)? Avoiding a beating all the while?ĭing, ding, ding. So to avoid a lamming, one lams? The expression took early forms of “take a lam,” “do a lam,” and “make a lam,” before it’s present usage of “being on the lam.”įun extra side note, the expression “to beat it,” meaning “to leave quickly” might be etymologically related to being “on the lab” if this “beating” origin story is our correct answer.
Skedaddle etymology code#
Pinkerton in his 1886 memoir, Thirty Years A Detective, where “lam” was a code word for a successful theft and preparing to flee. We also have a connection with a thief about to flee after a successful robbery from famed Scottish detective Allan J. Mark Twain, as always, is capturing the language of his era. Merriam Webster backs this up, citing a root “perhaps of Scandinavian origin akin to Old Norse lemja to thrash akin to Old English lama.” Words connected to this version of “lam” include “lambaste,” “lame,” and “bedlam.”īy the mid-1800s, school kids in both England and the United States spoke of schoolyard brawls as “lamming out” or “lamming into” someone. Mark Twain used the word “lam,” meaning “to beat,” and his usage draws back on a word that the Oxford English Dictionary says came to English in the 1500s. The Scandinavian verb lam, meaning “to beat” Woody Allen’s essay was humor, not true etymological theory. Side note: In 1972, Woody Allen wrote about the origin of “on the lam” in a humor essay titled “Slang Origins.” His theory, which was different from the above slang conversation, involved feathers, dice, and twirling in a frenzy, but the moral of the story is that we always need to be aware of our sources and whether they’re academic or not. In the mid-nineteenth century, the word “namase,” alternatively spelled “nammou” and possibly “lammas,” might have meant “to run off.” It might also be related to the Old American West slang word “vamoose.” Now, I love word stories like this, but there’s not as much depth here as I would like for me to commit to this answer. (See “ hipster,” “ jive,” “ bloomers,” and so many more, right?) Slang is endlessly fun, isn’t it? It transforms language rapidly, and sometimes, certain words or phrases stick long after the masses remember where they came from. The British slang word “namase,” which meant “to skedaddle” around 1855
Based on possible phonetic connections and a close definition match, not research into the evolution of language, this theory has been widely discounted however, you can see why the author might want to stake a claim in this idea.Īnd it hasn’t been definitively disproven, so it still lingers in the conversation. While this theory was published in Daniel Cassidy’s How the Irish Invented Slang, which won an American Book Award for nonfiction in 2007, its historical accuracy isn’t greatly accepted by the etymology community. The Irish word leim, which means “to jump” Here’s what you need to know about our options for the origin of “on the lam”: A. Well, getting back to the debate, the leading theory seems to back up option C, but just because it’s the leading theory does not mean that this is a decided matter. This is where we insert Jeopardy! music or etymologists heckling each other. The Scandinavian verb lam, meaning “to beat”Īll have been postulated, but only one is likely correct. Less than simple answer: But we don’t quite know where this expression comes from.
Simple answer: “On the lam” (L-A-M) is the correct spelling of this expression. Of course you know! Or, do you? How do you spell “on the lam” / “on the lamb” again? Is this lamb on the lam? Or is there just an annoyed expression on the lamb about the constant misspelling of this expression?
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