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Origin and history of limpet

limpet(n.)

type of marine gastropod mollusk, early 14c., earlier lempet (early 14c.), alteration of Old English lempedu, which apparently originally meant "a lamprey" (both cling by sucking), from Medieval Latin lampreda "lamprey; limpet," from Late Latin lampetra "lamprey" (see lamprey). Limpin was a 16c. variant that survived in dialects.

also from early 14c.

Entries linking to limpet

lamprey(n.)

c. 1300 (perhaps c. 1200 as a surname), from Old French lamproie "lamprey" (12c.), from Medieval Latin lampreda, from Late Latin lampetra "lamprey," a word of uncertain origin, usually explained as literally "lick-rock," from Latin lambere "to lick" (see lap (v.1)) + petra "rock" (see petrous), but this might be folk etymology. The animals attach themselves with sucker-like mouths.

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    Trends of limpet

    adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

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    slipper
    Also in creature-names, such as slipper-limpet (1828), slipper-shell (1825)....
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    early 12c., ungeon, oinyon, unione, "the underground bulb of the common onion plant," from Anglo-French union, Old French oignon "onion" (formerly also oingnon), and directly from Latin unionem (nominative unio), a colloquial rustic Roman word for a kind of onion, also "pearl" (v
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    c. 1300, name of a game at dice, from Old French hasard, hasart "game of chance played with dice," also "a throw of six in dice" (12c.), of uncertain origin. Possibly from Spanish azar "an unfortunate card or throw at dice," which is said to be from Arabic az-zahr (for al-zahr) "
    fast
    Old English fæst "firmly fixed, steadfast, constant; secure; enclosed, watertight; strong, fortified," probably from Proto-Germanic *fastu- "firm, fast" (source also of Old Frisian fest, Old Norse fastr, Dutch vast, German fest), from PIE root *past- "firm, solid" (source of Sans
    enemy
    early 13c., "one hateful toward and intent on harming (someone)," from Old French enemi (12c., Modern French ennemi), earlier inimi (9c.) "enemy, adversary, foe; demon, the Devil," from Latin inimicus "an enemy," literally "an unfriend," noun use of adjective meaning "hostile, un
    dwell
    Old English dwellan "to lead into error, deceive, mislead," related to dwelian "to be led into error, go wrong in belief or judgment," from Proto-Germanic *dwaljana "to delay, hesitate," *dwelana "go astray" (source also of Old Norse dvelja "to retard, delay," Danish dvæle “to li
    nurse
    c. 1200, norice, nurrice, "wet-nurse, woman who nourishes or suckles an infant; foster-mother to a young child," from Old French norrice "foster-mother, wet-nurse, nanny" (source of proper name Norris), from Late Latin *nutricia "nurse, governess, tutoress," noun use of fem. of L
    experience
    late 14c., "observation as the source of knowledge; actual observation; an event which has affected one," from Old French esperience "experiment, proof, experience" (13c.), from Latin experientia "a trial, proof, experiment; knowledge gained by repeated trials," from experientem
    suffrage
    late 14c., "prayer," especially "intercessory prayers or pleas on behalf of another," from Old French sofrage "plea, intercession" (13c.) and directly from Medieval Latin suffragium, from Latin suffragium "support, ballot, vote cast in an assembly; right of voting; a voting table
    science
    mid-14c., "state or fact of knowing; what is known, knowledge (of something) acquired by study; information;" also "assurance of knowledge, certitude, certainty," from Old French science "knowledge, learning, application; corpus of human knowledge" (12c.), from Latin scientia "kn

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