leman
English
editAlternative forms
editEtymology
editFrom Middle English lemman, variant of leofman, from Old English *lēofmann ("lover; sweetheart"; attested as a personal name), equivalent to lief + man ("beloved person"). In the past, incorrectly asserted to derive from French l’aimant (“the [male] lover”).
Pronunciation
editNoun
editleman (plural lemans)
- (archaic) One beloved; a lover, a sweetheart of either sex (especially a secret lover; a gallant or mistress).
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
- Faire Venus seemde vnto his bed to bring
Her, whom he waking euermore did weene,
To be the chastest flowre, that ay did spring
On earthly braunch, the daughter of a king,
Now a loose Leman to vile seruice bound […].
- 1819 December 20 (indicated as 1820), Walter Scott, chapter II, in Ivanhoe; a Romance. […], volume III, Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], →OCLC, page 61:
- The prisoner I speak of is better booty—a jolly monk riding to visit his leman, an I may judge by his horse-gear and wearing apparel.
- (often pejorative) A paramour.
- 1915, Oscar Wilde, A House of Pomegranates: The Fisherman and his Soul:
- '...They are lost, I tell thee, they are lost. For them there is no heaven nor hell, and in neither shall they praise God’s name.’
‘Father,’ cried the young Fisherman, ‘thou knowest not what thou sayest. Once in my net I snared the daughter of a King. She is fairer than the morning star, and whiter than the moon. For her body I would give my soul, and for her love I would surrender heaven. Tell me what I ask of thee, and let me go in peace.’
‘Away! Away!’ cried the Priest: ‘thy leman is lost, and thou shalt be lost with her.’
And he gave him no blessing, but drove him from his door.
- 1932, Lewis Grassic Gibbon, Sunset Song:
- And he sent the news to William the Lyon, sitting drinking the wine and fondling his bonny lemans in Edinburgh Town, and William made him the Knight of Kinraddie […].
Anagrams
editMalay
editEtymology
editFrom Javanese liman, possibly from lima + -an, doublet of liman; related to Proto-Chamic *lamaːn (compare Western Cham limân, Rade êman, Jarai rơman).[1]
Pronunciation
editNoun
editleman (Jawi spelling ليمن, plural leman-leman, informal 1st possessive lemanku, 2nd possessive lemanmu, 3rd possessive lemannya)
- (colloquial, Javanese) elephant.
References
editFurther reading
edit- “leman” in Pusat Rujukan Persuratan Melayu | Malay Literary Reference Centre, Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, 2017.
- Wilkinson, Richard James. An Abridged Malay-English Dictionary. Macmillan. 1965.
Categories:
- English terms inherited from Middle English
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- English terms inherited from Old English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms derived from French
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- Rhymes:English/ɛmən
- Rhymes:English/ɛmən/2 syllables
- English terms with homophones
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
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- en:Love
- Malay terms borrowed from Javanese
- Malay terms derived from Javanese
- Malay terms suffixed with -an
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- Rhymes:Malay/əman
- Rhymes:Malay/man
- Rhymes:Malay/an
- Malay lemmas
- Malay nouns
- Malay colloquialisms
- ms:Elephants